This week sees the continuation of action in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League and Europa League. The former sees the first second legs for the round of 16, whilst the latter sees the first legs of the same round, and there will be many representatives from the Germany national team, including World Champions.
Champions League: Two German teams in the form of Bayern München and VfL Wolfsburg can both qualify for the quarter finals. Even though Bayern and the many Germany internationals at the club do not face Juventus and World Champions Sami Khedira until next week, there will still be numerous Germany internationals in action this week. André Schürrle, Max Kruse and Julian Draxler will all be on the hunt for goals tonight in Wolfsburg’s home game against Gent. Antonio Rüdiger, however, will not be fit to face Real Madrid and Toni Kroos because of an ankle injury. Tomorrow, Kevin Trapp will face Chelsea in London looking to finish the job for PSG and qualify for the quarter finals. Just like Bayern, Arsenal’s Mesut Özil and Per Mertesacker have to wait until next week for their second-leg tie against international teammate Marc-André ter Stegen at Barcelona.
Europa League: There will also be some Germany internationals and World Champions in action for their teams here, too. Marco Reus and Mats Hummels for Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Karim Bellarabi and Christoph Kramer, could all feature for the two remaining German sides in the competition. But there are still numerous Germans plying their trade abroad who could feature as well. Shkodran Mustafi and his Valencia side travel to face fellow Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. World Cup winner Miroslav Klose also travels to Sparta Prague with his Lazio side. But one of the highlights of the round sees an all-English tie as Emre Can’s Liverpool host Bastian Schweinsteiger’s Manchester United. Unfortunately for Germany’s captain, the game has probably come too soon following a knee injury.
All matches with German participants:
Champions League
VfL Wolfsburg - KAA Gent (today – kick-off 20:45 CET)
Toni Kroos/Real Madrid - Antonio Rüdiger/AS Roma (today – kick-off 20:45 CET)
FC Chelsea - Kevin Trapp/Paris Saint-Germain (Wednesday – kick-off 20:45 CET)
Europa League
Borussia Dortmund – Tottenham Hotspur (Thursday – kick-off 19:00 CET)
FC Villarreal - Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Thursday – kick-off 21:05 CET)
Emre Can/FC Liverpool - Bastian Schweinsteiger/Manchester United (Thursday – kick-off 21:05 CET)
Athletic Bilbao - Shkodran Mustafi/FC Valencia (Thursday – kick-off 21:05 CET)
Sparta Prague - Miroslav Klose/Lazio (Thursday – kick-off 21:05 CET)
