A few Champions League Round of 16 matches have been played as part of the Road to Munich, and Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards, and Peter Schmeichel of CBS Sports have all made predictions on the winner of this season’s main event.
Borussia Dortmund was restricted to a 1-1 draw with surprise package Lille, Real Madrid defeated their neighbours Atletico Madrid 2-1, Arsenal easily defeated PSV Eindhoven 7-1, and Unai Emery’s Aston Villa defeated Club Brugge on away turf.
As they all, hopefully, get closer, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan, and Feyenoord are also scheduled to begin their knockout round matches on Wednesday night.
Results of the 24/25 Champions League are predicted by the CBS Panel.
Schmeichel disagreed with Carragher and Richards’ choice of winner.
The CBS crew was available to provide fans with their annual dose of predictions from quarter-final matchups, which will determine which two teams will travel to Munich to compete for the title, ahead of Tuesday’s second round of European top table play.
Before being eliminated by Los Blancos, who he believes will defeat Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in the quarterfinals, Carragher, who played 737 games for Liverpool, backed his old team to defeat PSG, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest teams to never win the Champions League, and Aston Villa on their way to the semi-finals.
On the opposite side of the bracket, he thinks Barcelona, Dortmund, and Inter Milan will advance, and he backed Bayer Leverkusen, led by Xabi Alonso, to defeat Bayern Munich, another Bundesliga team, in two legs.
Like his co-conspirator Richards, he thinks El Clasico will bless the German city in the final. In addition, the former Manchester City defender forecasted that Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Arsenal would advance to the quarterfinals.
In contrast, he thinks Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan will make a comeback to the big stage to play Los Blancos. He also thinks that all four of Carragher’s predictions on the other side of the draw would also guarantee advancement.
Given that they now hold the Champions League record, Ancelotti’s team has a strong European heritage, and Richards thinks they will defeat Nerazzurri to establish themselves as the dominant team by the end of May 2025.
Schmeichel, who is considered by many to be among the greatest goalkeepers in Premier League history, joined them and shared his predictions. He thinks Real Madrid will advance directly to the final, citing their strength.
The former glove bearer believes that the teams who will face Inter Milan in the Round of 16—Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Barcelona, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, and Feyenoord—will advance to the quarterfinals.
Schmeichel has formed his semi-final predictions, predicting an all-action matchup between Real Madrid and Liverpool and a matchup between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.
Ancelotti and his team were expected to join Vincent Kompany’s team in the final, making it three from three. Schmeichel thinks the team will take advantage of home advantage to win the European championship once more.
See their complete picks below:
It's March, so you know we had to bust out the brackets ✍️@Carra23, @MicahRichards and @kate_scott reveal their #UCL picks from the Round of 16 all the way to the champion 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Tehw2xsNCQ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 4, 2025
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