Predictions: Champions League Last 16

Europe's top club competition returns on Tuesday, with four of the eight last 16 ties taking kicking off this week.

Just the one English side will play their first leg this time around, with Liverpool taking on RB Leipzig, in one of several games being played on neutral soil.

BARCELONA VS PSG - Tuesday 16th, 8pm

Chris Coughlin

Well, the last time these two teams met in the last 16, it was an all-time classic. Barcelona trailed 4-0 after the first leg in Paris before three goals in six minutes at the end of the second leg helped the Spanish giants beat the French champions 6-5 on aggregate to send the Nou Camp wild. There’ll be much less emotion in an empty stadium this time but no lack of quality. Barcelona have finally hit a run of form under Ronald Koeman with Lionel Messi unsurprisingly at the heart of the recent upturn in results. PSG, meanwhile, are facing a battle for the title in Ligue 1 this season and are within a point of top spot after Lyon and Lille dropped points this weekend. The big factor here could be the absence of Neymar, which possibly explains why PSG are over 2/1 to win this in 90 minutes.

Prediction: 2-2

RB LEIPZIG VS LIVERPOOL - Tuesday 16th, 8pm

Chris Coughlin

Two teams in contrasting form and yet another huge test for Liverpool to turn around their recent poor form. The wins against Tottenham and West Ham looked like the Reds had turned a corner but it’s been downhill ever since against Brighton, Manchester City and, controversially, Leicester. They face a Leipzig side who are providing as much as a challenge to Bayern Munich as anyone has in recent seasons. They’re five points off the lead in the Bundesliga and possess a variety of attacking options in the likes of Angelino, Dani Olmo, Marcel Sabitzer and Emil Forsberg. It will be a entertaining tie in Budapest but I’ll go for Liverpool to edge this first leg.

Prediction: 1-2

FC PORTO VS JUVENTUS - Wednesday 17th, 8pm

Chris Coughlin

For both of these teams, their domestic league campaigns are far from the standards they've set themselves. Juventus have won every Serie A title since 2011/12 but that's under serious threat this season. Andrea Pirlo's men are eight points off leaders Inter Milan, albeit having played a game less. Porto, who are effectively, the Champions League's equivalent to Mexico at the World Cup, are 10 points behind runaway leaders Sporting Libson having drawn their last three games. The Estádio do Dragão is normally an intimidating place to go but with no fans, Cristiano Ronaldo and co have much less to worry about. I'm backing the Old Lady for a convincing away win.

Prediction: 0-3

SEVILLA VS BORUSSIA DORTMUND - Wednesday 17th, 8pm

Chris Coughlin

Good luck predicting this one as you never know which Borussia Dortmund team will turn up. One minute, they're beating Leipzig 3-1 away but the next they're losing 5-1 at home to promoted Stuttgart. Dortmund have so much attacking quality in the likes of Erling Haaland, Jadon Sancho & Gio Reyna but, defensively, they're just so open. Sevilla fans may well have had mixed emotions after comfortably qualifying from their group as it means they won't be able to celebrate their annual Europa League triumph. Julen Lopetegui has revived his career after being sacked by Spain on the eve of the 2018 World Cup to get Sevilla into a comfortable fourth placed position, with the team having kept seven successive clean sheets in all competitions. This game may go under the radar but it will be a high quality affair.

Prediction: 2-1