Champions League 2023 quarter final predictions: Real Madrid, Man City to advance from heavyweight clashes

Dom Farrell

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Champions League 2023 quarter final predictions: Real Madrid, Man City to advance from heavyweight clashes image

Europe's leading clubs have their courses set for Istanbul after the quarterfinal draw for the Champions League.

Along with four mouth-watering fixtures in the final eight, teams also know their potential semifinal foes after the route to the June 10 final in the Turkish city was mapped out.

Holders Real Madrid will tackle a knockout showdown with Chelsea for the third time in as many seasons, with a titanic tussle between Manchester City and Bayern Munich also on that side of the draw.

The rest of the schedule is Serie A dominated, with Inter Milan taking on Benfica as Italian champions AC Milan are paired with this season's runaway leaders Napoli.

Here's a breakdown of how the ties, the first legs of which will take place on April 11 and 12, might pan out.

Champions League cuartos QF sorteo draw
SN Illustrations

MORE: Champions League quarter finals draw 2023: Fixtures, schedule, teams

Real Madrid vs. Chelsea

  • 1st leg date: Wednesday, April 12
  • Kickoff time: 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. GMT / 7 a.m. AEDT April 13)
  • Location: Santiago Bernabeu (Madrid, Spain)
  • Official: TBC

Real Madrid vs. Chelsea predictions

  • 1st leg score prediction: Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea 
  • Team to advance: Real Madrid 

Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea overcame Zinedine Zidane's serial Madrid winners in the 2021 semifinals before a side led by Carlo Ancelotti gained revenge in an undulating quarterfinal encounter last time around. It means the winner of this matchup tends to go on to win the whole competition.

Madrid enter as fairly clear favourites this time around, on account of their authoritative defeat of Liverpool in the last 16 and Chelsea's season of turbulence and transition under Graham Potter. The former Brighton & Hove Albion manager eased some of the pressure with a come-from-behind triumph over Borussia Dortmund in the previous round.

Chelsea have certainly looked like a more cohesive unit over recent weeks but a lack of goals and cutting edge remain problems. Madrid have those in abundance, with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior as formidable as any attacking combination in Europe. Expect Ancelotti's men to head to London with a healthy advantage.

Benfica vs. Inter Milan

  • 1st leg date: Tuesday, April 11
  • Kickoff time: 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. GMT / 7 a.m. AEDT April 12)
  • Location: Estadio da Luz (Lisbon, Portugal)
  • Official: TBC

Benfica vs. Inter Milan predictions

  • 1st leg score prediction: Benfica 3-1 Inter Milan
  • Team to advance: Benfica

Benfica won back-to-back European cups in 1960/61 and 1961/62 before parting company with coach Bela Guttmann, who allegedly placed a curse on the club, infamously decreeing they would not be champions of Europe again for a hundred years. They've since lost eight continental finals, but maybe their luck is finally starting to change.

Roger Schmidt's side have a handy lead at the top of Portugal's top flight this season, despite losing Darwin Nunez to Liverpool last summer and Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea in January. They had the soft touch of a badly out-of-form Club Brugge in the last 16 and now find themselves with three Serie A clubs for company on their side of the bracket.

Inter are a shadow of the side Antonio Conte led to the Scudetto a couple of years ago. They battled past Porto 1-0 on aggregate, riding a boatload of luck during the closing stages at Estadio do Dragao. A return trip to Portugal feels like the point at which Simone Inzaghi's team run out of road.

Man City vs. Bayern Munich

  • 1st leg date: Tuesday, April 11
  • Kickoff time: 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. GMT / 7 a.m. AEDT April 12)
  • Location: Etihad Stadium (Manchester, England)
  • Official: TBC

Man City vs. Bayern Munich predictions

  • 1st leg score prediction: Man City 2-1 Bayern Munich
  • Team to advance: Man City

Narratives aplenty in this one — take your pick. Pep Guardiola will lead a City team he has failed to win the Champions League with in six prior attempts against a club he helmed for three consecutive semifinal defeats between 2014 and 2016. Erling Haaland knows all about not quite managing to unseat Bayern, going back to his time in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund. He'll fancy turning that piece of personal history around after plundering five goals in a 7-0 win over RB Leipzig.

Bayern have a couple of ex-City men in their ranks who were each rumoured not to see eye-to-eye with Guardiola. Leroy Sane swapped Manchester for Munich in 2020, while Joao Cancelo made a stunning loan switch in January, from which point this Champions League pairing felt somewhat inevitable.

Both sides are unbeaten in the Champions League this season, with Bayern winning all eight of their games. In their most recent four, they haven't conceded a goal, meaning Haaland and company will have their work cut out. On the other hand, a glance at a tightly contested Bundesliga title race suggests Julian Nagelsmann's team aren't the force they have been over recent years. City are the tip to edge this one on home turf, where they boast a superb European record, but expect everything to still be up for grabs once the teams reconvene in Bavaria.

AC Milan vs. Napoli

  • 1st leg date: Wednesday, April 12
  • Kickoff time: 3 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. GMT / 7 a.m. AEDT April 13)
  • Location: San Siro (Milan, Italy)
  • Official: TBC

AC Milan vs. Napoli predictions

  • 1st leg score prediction: AC Milan 2-1 Napoli
  • Team to advance: Napoli

Napoli have won countless admirers this season with a swashbuckling brand of football that has them on the cusp of a first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona. On the day of the draw, they led Inter by 18 points and were 20 better off than Milan.

Everything indicates this should be a formality for Luciano Spalletti's men against a team they have been demonstrably superior to this term. Napoli won 2-1 when the sides met at San Siro in September but one-nation ties can do funny things in this competition. The teams will also play each other in Naples at the start of April, by which point the hosts will be on the cusp of being crowned champions.

Napoli will be a swirling torrent of emotion by the time they arrive in Milan for a white-hot occasion. The Rossoneri might even nick a win on an electric night, but vengeance will be meted out when they head down south a week later.

Dom Farrell

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Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.