Breaking down Chelsea’s potential UCL Round of 16 opponents
4. Borussia Monchengladbach
Why should Chelsea not fear Borussia Monchengladbach?
This will be Monchengladbach’s first appearance in the knockout stages of the Champions League era. Die Fohlen are also a very young team with a young manager and will show that naivete. This naivete was in full display in the group stages when they qualified for knockout stages, despite losing their final two games with Inter Milan bottling it in Europe per usual. They have also shown a propensity to throw away leads in Europe this season. Monchengladbach has also not gotten that statement victory against the so called ‘European royalty’, going winless in four matches against Real Madrid and Inter.
Why should Chelsea fear Borussia Monchengladbach?
Before I sat down to pen this piece, I actually oscillated between putting Monchengladbach or the next team—which I’ll mention in a moment—but I placed Gladbach below the other team because of the aforementioned reasons. Why should Die Fohlen be feared though? It’s because they’ve been fearless in all six group games. They’ve played the same style and not gotten cowed by the occasion. Yeah, they’ve not won any of their games against Real and Inter, but they definitely showed that they are here to stay. They did something which Madrid and Inter didn’t manage to do, Gladbach thrashed Shakhtar Donetsk in both matches, so the Germans should be taken seriously.
5. Atalanta
Why should Chelsea not fear Atalanta?
Atalanta plays a man-marking system all across the pitch, which allows a spare man for the opposing players to attack in spaces. La Dea have very slow centrebacks for the system in which they play, which is something Werner would be licking his chops at. They have seen a drop off in the overall performance, as well, this season. Atalanta simply has not had those consistent attacking performances it enjoyed throughout the entirety of last season. La Dea looked jaded and maybe a little found out this year.
Why should Chelsea not fear Atalanta?
This team was just a few minutes from reaching a Champions League semifinal in its maiden appearance in the Champions League. Atalanta has also shown the ability to go toe-to-toe with the very best Europe has to offer, as demonstrated by the 1-0 away win at Liverpool. La Dea have shown a new found defensive steel to their play this season. They are one of the dark horses in this Champions League, along with Monchengladbach.