1 Player to Watch from Each Team in This Week's Champions League Matches
The UEFA Champions League resumes this week, with eight of the remaining 16 teams taking part in the first legs of knockout ties.
On Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain host Chelsea in a matchup that's become familiar in recent seasons, while Zenit St. Petersburg visit Portuguese giants Benfica. The following day, Gent host Wolfsburg while Real Madrid visit Roma.
Here, Bleacher Report selects one player to watch from each of those eight sides.
PSG: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea meet yet again, with this marking the third straight season the two sides have been paired together in the Champions League knockout stage. Both sides won once on away goals (Chelsea in 2014, PSG in 2015), but the French champions will be the favorites this time.
That's because while Chelsea's Premier League title defense has foundered, PSG are running away with yet another Ligue 1 title. In addition, manager Laurent Blanc has no real injury concerns ahead of the match and has a full squad from which to select his starting XI, minus the misbehaving Serge Aurier.
So while this might be an obvious choice, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is PSG's player to watch. At 34, the Swede is no longer at his absolute peak, but he still has the ability to turn a game on its head with a moment of individual brilliance.
The tall striker has netted 21 goals in 20 Ligue 1 appearances this season but only two so far in the Champions League. He'll come into Tuesday's match fully rested after Blanc gave him the day off this past weekend in PSG's scoreless draw against Lille.
Adding further intrigue, as we'll see in the next slide, Chelsea's back line has some serious holes in it at the moment.
Chelsea: Branislav Ivanovic
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Chelsea's woeful season saw manager Jose Mourinho sacked in December, but the Blues have begun a renaissance under interim boss Guus Hiddink. Despite the progress, though, Hiddink has a selection headache on his hands in defense.
Center-backs Kurt Zouma and John Terry are both out injured, so Hiddink will most likely have to draft Ivanovic into central defense alongside Gary Cahill. Ivanovic played there successfully on Saturday, moving from right-back after Terry sustained his injury during Chelsea's easy win over Newcastle United, but PSG will present a much tougher challenge.
Cahill, for his part, has been out of favor for much of the season. Now, however, his partnership with Ivanovic will be critical to Chelsea's hopes of advancement.
"We got off to a great start this weekend and we have arguably the biggest games of the season coming up for us now," Cahill said, per the Guardian. "So we go into the week with the confidence from this game and knowing how important it is going to be."
Benfica: Jonas
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Benfica have built a head of steam lately, winning 12 of 14 matches since falling to Atletico Madrid on the final day of the Champions League group stage. That's an impressive run, but the Eagles saw their 11-match winning streak end last Friday with a 2-1 defeat at home to Porto.
Greek forward Kostas Mitroglou has been in good form of late, with eight goals in his last seven appearances in all competitions. He notched a hat-trick against Belenenses earlier this month and scored Benfica's only goal in the loss to Atletico on Matchday 6.
But the player to watch for Benfica is Jonas. The 31-year-old Brazilian forward has scored 23 times in the domestic league this season and is currently second in the Golden Shoe table behind Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain. But in the Champions League, he's found the back of the net just once.
If Benfica are to advance, he might have to rediscover his scoring touch in continental competition.
Zenit Saint Petersburg: Hulk
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Because of Russian football's long winter break, Zenit St. Petersburg have not played a competitive match since losing to Gent on Matchday 6 of the Champions League. That was all the way back on Dec. 9.
However, that's not to say Zenit have sat still. Andre Villas-Boas' men have taken part in various training camps, and the club signed three players—defensive midfielder Mauricio, left midfielder Yuri Zhirkov and center-forward Aleksandr Kokorin—during the transfer window.
Keeping an eye on those players would be wise, and it's also true that there's some intrigue in Zenit's roster with three former Benfica players: Axel Witsel, Javi Garcia and Ezequiel Garay.
That said, the player to watch is still Hulk, who is Zenit's most important attacker. The Brazilian has contributed eight goals and 14 assists in domestic action this season, adding three more goals and four assists in the Champions League (stats via Transfermarkt).
Cutting in from his customary position on the right flank, Hulk can hurt opponents with his powerful shot or incisive passing, a facet of his game that has improved considerably this season. For Zenit to advance, he'll likely need to be at his influential best.
Gent: Sven Kums
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Gent were surprise qualifiers for the knockout stage after making their debut in the group stage only this season. The Belgians reached this stage by beating Group H winners Zenit St. Petersburg on Matchday 6, but any further progress would be even more of a shock than reaching this point.
Since that win over Zenit, Gent have lost three times in 11 matches in all competitions, including a pair of defeats to Club Brugge. If Hein Vanhaezebrouck's men want to keep their dream run going, they'll need a good performance from captain Sven Kums, who was recently named Belgian Pro League player of the year for 2015 (h/t Berend Scholten at UEFA.com).
"Any member of the team could have ended up in my position on this stage here," the central midfielder said. "They all have done fantastically well. This award is an award for everyone at Gent, for a fantastic year, also for the fans."
Wolfsburg: Julian Draxler
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The present is not the happiest of times for Wolfsburg.
In the Bundesliga, the Wolves have won just once in their eight games. Striker Bas Dost is injured, while another front man, the flamboyant Nicklas Bendtner, is in poor form. To make matters worse, influential defender Naldo is suspended after picking up a booking on Matchday 6.
Fortunately, Julian Draxler found the back of the net during Wolfsburg's 2-0 win at home to Ingolstadt on Saturday. With Dost injured, the majority of attacking duties will fall to the exciting 22-year-old, along with Max Kruse and Andre Schurrle.
Roma: Diego Perotti
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Luciano Spalletti returned to Roma in January after the club sacked manager Rudi Garcia following a poor run of results. In his second spell with the Giallorossi, Spalletti has brought back the false nine, a tactical tweak he used to great effect during his first go-round in the Eternal City.
Shortly after arriving, Spalletti convinced Roma to sign Diego Perotti on loan from Genoa, and the move has proven wise as Perotti has played well along with fellow new signing Stephan El Shaarawy.
After Roma posted back-to-back wins over Sassuolo and Sampdoria earlier this month, Blair Newman noted at Squawka:
"Where previously the team's attacking play had been static, there was now plenty of movement off the ball. Perotti drifted horizontally and vertically, searching for pockets of space and dragging his marker with him to free up room for his teammates.
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In both games, Perotti's natural inclination to wander, along with his technical brilliance and intelligence, served Roma’s system well. The performances were a relief for Spalletti, who now has the possibility of playing without a striker, an option that looks all the more viable given the poor form of his only experienced centre-forward, Edin Dzeko.
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It's that last part that's crucial here. Dzeko, who signed from Manchester City last summer, has scored only four times in Serie A all season. If Roma are to continue their recent run of strong results, Spalletti will need Perotti to keep playing well as a false nine.
Real Madrid: Marcelo
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On paper, this should be a comfortable tie for Real Madrid. Manager Zinedine Zidane has a stronger side, with Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo leading the way for Los Blancos.
But despite his continued attacking brilliance, Ronaldo is not our player to watch. It might seem odd, but we've opted for Marcelo.
The Brazilian full-back returned to training on Monday following a shoulder injury (h/t Sport) and has been included in Zidane's squad. Don't underestimate the importance of Marcelo, who gives Madrid reliable contributions at both ends of the pitch and frequently provides killer crosses for Ronaldo to finish.
