Champions League 2017: Quarter-Finals Leg 1 Live Stream, TV Schedule, Prediction
The 2016-17 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals kick off on Tuesday with the opening legs of two ties. Borussia Dortmund will play host to AS Monaco, while Barcelona travel to face Juventus.
Picking favourites out of these four teams is complicated―on paper, Dortmund and Barcelona have the stronger squads, but Monaco and Juventus are in far better form heading into their respective first legs.
Here's a look at the schedule for Tuesday, complete with TV and live-stream info and predictions:
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| 7:45 p.m. | Juventus | Barcelona | BT Sport 2 (UK)/Fox Sports 1 (U.S.) | BT Sport app, Fox Soccer 2Go | 1-1 |
| 7:45 p.m. | Dortmund | Monaco | BT Sport 3 (UK)/Fox Sports 2 (U.S.) | BT Sport app, Fox Soccer 2Go | 2-2 |
Barcelona missed out on a golden opportunity to gain on rivals Real Madrid in La Liga's title race on Saturday, losing 2-0 against Malaga just hours after Atletico Madrid held Los Blancos to a 1-1 draw.
It was the last thing the Catalans needed heading into the tie with Juventus, a club in excellent form that wasted little energy in Saturday's 2-0 win over Chievo. The Bianconeri rested one or two players, suffered no injuries and still cruised to an easy victory.
Per the club's official Twitter account, manager Massimiliano Allegri said his squad is in high spirits ahead of the match:
Juventus have momentum, a world-class defence and an attack with plenty of versatility. Mario Mandzukic regularly splits out wide, Gonzalo Higuain is in the form of his life and Paulo Dybala has been excellent in a role behind the main striker.
Barcelona also rested key players against Malaga, and they should have far more consistency in midfield on Tuesday with the returning Andres Iniesta pulling the strings. The Spain international remains one of the world's best playmakers, and Juventus will have a hard time containing him.
Even harder will be shutting down the all-star attack of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar, who carved open the Juventus defence in the 2015 Champions League final. Their ability to move all over the attacking third and maintain effectiveness presents a nightmare matchup for Juventus' strong but relatively immobile defence.
Fans of attacking football should be in for a treat in Tuesday's other match. Monaco, who qualified for the quarter-finals by playing no defence whatsoever and simply outscoring opponents, will take on an exciting BVB squad.
Dortmund have a tremendous amount of young talent, but their relative lack of experience has cost them at times this season. They were out of their depth on Saturday, losing to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in emphatic fashion.
Per Ruhr Nachrichten's Florian Groeger, star winger Marco Reus is unlikely to be fit in time for the first leg (h/t Bleacher Report UK's Lars Pollmann):
Neither team is expected to win the Champions League, but that doesn't mean fans shouldn't enjoy watching their wide-open approach to football. When the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele feature on the same pitch, it's worth tuning into the match.
