Paris (AFP)

Uncompromising, Bayern and Chelsea tamed Lazio (2-1) and Atlético (2-0) on Wednesday in the eighth return of the Champions League, completing the cast of the quarters before the draw on Friday, where Munich and Londoners will be heavyweights heavy to avoid for Paris SG.

At the end of these last two confrontations, the eight qualified teams are known and whatever happens, the Parisians will have a lot to do in the quarter-finals next month (6-7 and 13-14 April).

Apart from perhaps FC Porto, more affordable on paper, potential opponents are full of talented players, such as Robert Lewandowski's Bayern or Erling Haaland's Dortmund, and star coaches: Pep Guardiola in Manchester City, Zinédine Zidane at Real Madrid, Jürgen Klopp in Liverpool or even Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel, the latter being likely to cross paths with PSG who had unceremoniously ousted him at the end of December.

Whatever the draw, in short, Neymar and others can expect a hot reunion.

With Bayern, first, executioner of the Parisians during the Lisbon final last August on a goal from Kingsley Coman (1-0).

- The Tuchel leg -

Without the French winger, at rest due to muscle pain, the Bavarians easily qualified on Wednesday (2-1) at the expense of Lazio Rome, already swept 4-1 in the first leg: the European champions in title scored on a rather generous penalty converted by Lewandowski (33rd) and a goal from Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (73rd), despite the reduction in the score of Marco Parolo (82nd) ​​for Lazio, which was the last Italian club competing in the event this season.

Finding Tuchel would also have a particular taste for Parisians: it was with "TT" on the bench that Paris reached the first Champions League final in its history last summer, which did not prevent his dismissal four months later and his replacement by the Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino.

But the German immediately bounced back on the Chelsea bench, where he has not yet experienced the slightest defeat and brought the club back to C1 quarterfinals for the first time since 2014.

After the 1-0 victory in the first leg in Bucharest thanks to a sumptuous return from Olivier Giroud, the 2-0 victory against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday night in the second leg bears its mark: two lightning counter-attacks concluded by the Moroccan Ziyech (33rd) and the Brazilian Emerson (90th + 4) rewarded the attacking spirit of his "Blues" against the closed and restrictive game of Atlético, who finished at ten after the exclusion of Stefan Savic for a blow elbow on the torso of Antonio Rüdiger (82nd).

- Full draw -

And if the fate again placed Chelsea and Paris face to face, as in 2014 (heartbreak for the Parisians) or in 2015 and 2016 (London eliminations), Tuchel and his central defender Thiago Silva, another defector from PSG, would be without overmotivated doubt.

Since the draw for the quarterfinals and semi-finals on Friday (12:00 p.m.) in Nyon will be full and without seeds, other reunions are also possible.

As for example a shock tinged with geopolitics between the Qatari PSG and the Emirati Manchester City.

There is also Real de Zidane, triple winner of the event between 2016 and 2018 and executioner of the Parisians in the eighth three years ago.

Or Klopp's Liverpool, beaten in Paris (2-1) in a crucial group match in the winter of 2018, a few months before the European coronation of the Reds in 2019.

As for Dortmund, it is a good memory for Paris, executioner of BVB in the eighth last season (1-2, 2-0).

But in one year, Erling Haaland (20) has grown even more, he already has 10 goals in the Champions League and a new confrontation with Kylian Mbappé (22) would set the tone for their growing rivalry.

© 2021 AFP