JOIN USCity look to break jinx
With all their vast wealth and boundless ambition, Manchester City are in the perfect position to at last start punching their weight in Europe this week by reaching the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time.
Holding a 3-1 lead from the first leg of their round-of-16 tie against Dynamo Kiev, they should make the long-awaited breakthrough into the elite last-eight comfortably enough on Wednesday against a team that has never won a competitive game in England.
The Etihad Stadium faithful, who have had to watch them bow out to Barcelona at this stage in the last two seasons, will take nothing for granted, especially after seeing their Premier League title hopes fade so tamely at the weekend.
A big team, yes, but one with a seeming inferiority complex whenever it comes to playing top-flight opposition in England. Extraordinarily, the Ukrainian club's record in European competition on English soil reads played 13, drawn two, lost 11.
It is a sequence that does not bode well for their manager Sergei Rebrov who, having made his own mark in the English game as a striker at Tottenham Hotspu. Now has the job of making his players believe.
Rebrov had refused to make excuses about Kiev being rusty after a long winter break but they did look out-of-sorts and have since found a little more rhythm, winning their two subsequent Ukrainian Premier League matches to sit atop the table.
Most crucially, they need a major contribution from their key striker Andriy Yarmolenko who, following an ankle injury, has hit decent form with goals in all three of Kiev's matches in March. Still, though, it appears the longest of shots that the Ukrainian champions can make the quarterfinals for the first time since 1999, when a certain Sergei Rebrov was leading their attack.
Atletico hold edge
In Madrid, Atletico Madrid have scored nine goals in their last three games to keep up their chase of La Liga leaders Barcelona and will aim to take that goalscoring form into the second leg of their last-16 tie with PSV Eindhoven.
Antoine Griezmann has scored in four league matches in a row and Atletico’s top marksman took his league tally to 16 against Deportivo Simeone said that while Griezmann's striker partner Luciano Vietto had not been among the scorers lately he was still making an important contribution.
PSV will be looking to avenge two group stage defeats by Atletico in the 2008/9 season in their only previous encounters. Luuk de Jong returns from suspension for PSV but Gaston Pereiro is suspended. Atletico have Yannick Carrasco available.