UCL MD-8 Week 2 Team News, Injury Reports, and Live Chat

MD-8 Build-Up

Four teams are through to the quarterfinals and the next couple of days will produce the remaining four. Last week, AC Milan held on to their early lead in the first leg at home to force Conte’s Tottenham out of the tournament. Bayern Munich brushed off PSG with relevant ease, scoring 2 goals in the return leg to advance to the quarters on an aggregate score of 3-0. Dortmund could not hold on to their first-leg lead over Chelsea, the German club’s recent winning streak ended by a resurgent Blues side. The London club finished 2-1 on aggregate to progress to the next round.

Photo by Eric Verhoeven/Soccrates/Getty Images

Last but not least, Benfica showed no mercy to Club Brugge at home, scoring 5 goals in the return leg to win 7-1 on aggregate. After victories over PST and Juventus in the group stage, the Portuguese club has become something of a giant-killer, and none of the remaining teams will relish the possibility of facing them.

In case you missed them, here are links to my UCL MD-8 Preview article, Rae’s Fantasy UCL MD-8 Player Picks article and PPQ’s UCL Matchday 8 Rate My Team article.

For your convenience, all of our MD-8 content can be found in the Round of 16, Leg 2 article stream.

Cheers and good luck!

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Team News (Injury/Suspension)

Porto

Otavio will serve his one-match suspension when Porto host Inter Milan in the second leg of the Round of 16. Injury reports for Porto are not consistent since none of them come from a club source, but the following names are in doubt: Evanilson, Gabriel Veron, Galeno and Francisco Meixedo. Joao Mario was forced off over the weekend with a knee injury and looks unlikely to feature today.

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Inter Milan

Key player Milan Skriniar will hope to be fit to start against Porto while those subject to rotation, such as Joaquin Correa, Robin Gosens and Dimarco, may not be selected as starters even if they return to fitness in time for the match. Reports suggest that Lukaku is expected to start in Portugal for the Italians since he scored the only goal of the first leg match.

Photo by Mattia Ozbot - Inter/Inter via Getty Images

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Manchester City

Pep Guardiola will have the luxury of a full squad from which to select his starting XI when Manchester City host RB Leipzig. This match will be a winner-take-all affair after the first leg ended 1-1 in Germany.

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RB Leipzig

RB Leipzig continue to miss two key players in first-choice goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and Abdou Diallo. Both Dani Olmo and Christopher Nkunku are doubtful and unlikely to be fit for this match. After the first leg ended in a draw, RB Leipzig now travel to Manchester with a chance to shock Europe.

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Real Madrid

His three-goal lead from the first-leg means Carlo Ancelotti may not have to sweat too much over who will replace defenders David Alaba and Ferland Mendy when Liverpool visit the Santiago Bernabeu this Wednesday.

Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images

The Spaniards big lead means that Ancelotti could risk resting some attackers, and even those who start could be withdrawn early if the scoreline remains favorable in the second half.

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Liverpool

Liverpool responded to the first leg 2-5 defeat to Real Madrid with a stunning 7-0 victory over Manchester United domestically. Almost as stunning, they then lost 0-1 to Bournemouth this weekend. Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara, Joe Gomez and Calvin Ramsay are out due to injury while Arthur recovered to make the bench this weekend. Naby Keita is doubtful, and after such a long injury absence is not expected to start even if fit.

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Napoli

Napoli will be hosting Frankfurt on Wednesday without any major injury concerns. Youngster Giacomo Raspadori — who played such a crucial role in the group stage — should not missed considering that Osimhen and Simeone continue to be on fire for the Italian club. The first leg 2-0 lead means that Spalletti may opt to rest Alex Meret, Kim Min-Jae and Hirving Lozano. If not, then all of them could be substituted off early if the result is favorable in the second half.

Photo by Cesare Purini/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

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Frankfurt

Sent off in the first leg, Randal Kolo Muani will serve his suspension in the return leg. It is reported from several sources that key players Jesper Lindstrom and Ansgar Knauff will miss the tie due to injury, but the latter is reported ready to play according to the UEFA.com website. Tread carefully here. Eric Ebimbe will also miss out on the return leg in Italy.

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Confirmed Lineups Day-1

Porto: Costa, Sanusi, Cardoso, Marcano, Pepe, Grujic, Eustaquio, Uribe, Galeno, Evanilson, Taremi

Inter Milan: Onana, Dumfries, Acerbi, Dimarco, Darmian, Bastoni, Challanoglu, Mikhataryan, Barella, Martinez, Dzeko

Manchester City: Ederson, Ruben Dias, Stones, Ake, Akanji, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Grealish, Bernardo, Haaland

RB Leipzig: Blacwich, Orban, Haidara, Raum, Gvardiol, Henrichs, Kampl, Szoboszlai, Laimer, Forsberg, Werner

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Confirmed Lineups Day-2 (will be posted when available)

Real Madrid: Courtois, Nacho, Rudiger, Militao, Carvahal, Kroos, Modric, Camavinga, Vini Jr, Valverde, Benzema

Liverpool: Alisson, Robertson, VVD, Konate, TAA, Gakpo, Fabhinno, Milner, Nunez, Salah, Jota

Napoli: Meret, Rui, Rramani, KMJ, Di Lorenzo, Lobotka, Zielenski,

Frankfurt: Trapp, N’Dicka, Tuta, Buta, Lenz, Sow, Rode, Knauff, Goetze, Kamada, Santos

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For injury lists and predicted lineups for the second-week matches of Leg 2, see the UEFA UCL link here

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Keep an eye on the comments section for any late updates and be aware that lineups for the Porto vs Inter Milan and Manchester City vs RB Leipzig will be released about an hour before today’s fantasy substitution / captain change deadline at 20:00 GMT.

We’ll post those team sheets here in time for you to make substitutions, just like we do on every game day. Make sure you’re here for that!

Good luck everyone and I’ll see you in the Comments!

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How is your team shaping up? Has your squad been hit by injuries to any players? Do you have any tactical questions? Which matches do you plan/wish to watch as a fan? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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