LONDON: Liverpool and Barce­l­ona have one-goal leads to protect going into the second leg of the Cha­m­pions League round of 16 on Tuesday.

Liverpool host Paris St Germain knowing they were fortunate to snatch a 1-0 win in France while Barca also only have a 1-0 advantage over Benfica.

Some other teams are feeling a lot more comfortable — with Bayern Munich having beaten Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 and Inter holding a 2-0 advantage over Feyenoord going into Tuesday’s second leg.

Liverpool escaped the Parc des Princes with a victory last week despite being battered by the French champions, who came up against an inspired Alisson Becker in the Liverpool goal.

Never before have Liverpool won the first leg of a European tie away and let the lead slip at Anfield. However, captain Virgil van Dijk is expecting a tough test from PSG.

“It will be tough on Tuesday and you will all see. I think anyone who before our game over there expected it to be a dominating performance from us I don’t think they really looked at PSG throughout the season,” he said.

“We were prepared very well, obviously we could have done better in some ways, but we know that on Tuesday it is going to be as tough, maybe even tougher, because they will have to come and win.”

It’s not just Liverpool who have their eye on lifting a trio of trophies this season.

Barca are in the semi-finals of the Spanish Cup and fighting it out at the top of the La Liga table.

Coach Hansi Flick said his team will face Benfica playing for club doctor Carles Minarro, who died on Saturday.

Barca’s La Liga match on Saturday against Osasuna was postponed 20 minutes before kick-off after the 53-year-old doctor died that afternoon.

Barca beat Benfica 5-4 in Lisbon in the group stage and then again with 10 men for most of the game last week after Pau Cubarsi was sent off.

However Flick said his squad would not take progress to the quarter-finals as a given, with Benfica beating Juventus on the road in the group stage and thrashing Atletico Madrid at home.

“None of us thinks that it’s done, and this is the important thing,” Flick said during a short press conference on Monday.

“Their away matches in the Champions League, they are doing really great, they won a lot of matches away. So we have to think about that and take care.”

Inter, who won the treble in 2010 under Jose Mourinho, lead Serie A and will face AC Milan in the Italian Cup semi-finals with coach Simone Inzaghi saying his side must welcome the challenge of navigating through a packed fixture list and take pride in being successful on multiple fronts.

Inter’s struggles with injuries in recent weeks worsened on Monday when the Italian club confirmed that Piotr Zielinski had strained a muscle in his right leg, with reports saying the midfielder could be sidelined for up to two months.

Italian media also said Inter’s leading scorer Lautaro Martinez and defender Stefan de Vrij could be rested against Feyenoord in preparation for the Serie A clash with third-placed Atalanta on Sunday.

“The schedule should not be a problem but an incentive. We have to be proud of what we’re doing; these guys find the energy,” Inzaghi told reporters on Monday.

“In this period we had some players missing, which limited us in terms of rotation. We’ve played a lot of ga­mes. It’s a fact but we’re proud of what we’re doing and we have to continue. It’s a lot of work, but we’re proud to do it.”

Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, meanwhile, believes his team can pull off an “epic” comeback against Bayern despite losing midfielder Florian Wirtz to injury.

“The first thing we have to do is to believe, and for the fans to also believe from the first second that we can do it,” Alonso, who helped Liverpool fight back from 3-0 down against AC Milan at half-time to level at 3-3 and force extra time, in the 2005 Champions League final, told a press conference on Monday.

“It is a game of another dimension. We must play with heart, passion and brain. We have a chance and have to fight until the end.

“But with a big situation you can also achieve something epic. [Wirtz’s injury] could also be a boost, to say we fight for the big game but also for Flo.

“The team is convinced we can do it for many reasons but one is that we are in a position where we have nothing to lose. 100 percent of Bayern fans believe they will go through.”

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2025