There is almost nothing these two teams can do to stop themselves from playing this fixture the next time in the Segunda division as they have just 37 points between them this season, we still believe in miracles though. Depor are the form and position favourites going into this clash and a win here would help them close the gap with 17th placed Levante to 5 points, however, that may still not happen as they have not won any of their last 15 games and they still have no wins under their current manager, Clarence Seedorf. Malaga know that With 8 games to go, they would need to more than double the 17 points they currently have before they can stay out of the relegation zone. That is very unlikely at the moment even though they secured a shock win over Villarreal last weekend except they can build on that and hope that other results goes their way. Malaga have lost 80% of their away games this season, they have the worst away record in the league as well as the worst goalscoring record in the La Liga. Depor have been doing better defensively recently as can be confirmed by their 1-0 loss at Atletico Madrid the last time.

Atletico have become one of the Champions League’s biggest teams over the past few seasons, however, this season has taken a poor direction after a poor start to the season saw the leave the Champions League in the group stages after they could only manage to come 3rd behind AS Roma and Chelsea. There is 9 points gap separating them and Barcelona in the La Liga and they have been eliminated from the Copa Del Rey, Diego Simeone’s men know this is their only hope of finishing the season with a trophy. Atleti won Deportivo 1-0 at the weekend, a win that was their 12th from their last 14 games, this run included Europa League wins over Lokomotiv Moscow and Copenhagen.  They have 14 wins from their last 16 games at the Wanda Metropolitana, keeping 13 clean sheets, which makes it almost mission impossible for Sporting Lisbon to get a good result here. Sporting Lisbon haven’t been on their very best most recently as they have lost 3 of their last 6 competitive games including to Braga at the weekend and to Viktoria Plzen in their Europa League last round. As a matter of fact, they have lost 5 of their last 8 games on the road and they have not netted a goal in 3 of those games.

Arsenal have struggled for much of this season, but this competition offers them an opportunity to make it a good ending if they can win and qualifying for the Champions League like Manchester United did last season. The North Londoners have enjoyed some good form recently and they were in total control in their Premier League game against Stoke City at the weekend where they emerged 3-0 victors. The return to Alexandre Lacazette is also a major boost for them ahead of this game especially after he marked his return with a goal for the Gunners. That win over the Potters makes it 4 wins from the same number of games including their impressive two-legged win over Milan in the Europa League last round, even more impressively they have netted 11 times in those matches, conceding just once. That defensive solidity could help them win this competition. CSKA Moscow are not one of the biggest teams still in the competition but they are not to be underrated as they showed in the last round against Lyon. They trailed the French side from the first leg 0-1, but they produced a very inspiring performance to win 3-2 at Lyon in the return leg. They are in good form at the moment as they have won 6 of their last 7 games in all competitions.

When the Champions League quarterfinal draw was made, Barcelona would have felt very fortunate to have drawn AS Roma as they look to win the La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League treble. Their last game offered them a major scare as they had to fight very hard to earn a late 2-2 draw against Sevilla having been 2-0 down until the 88th minute. They are now unbeaten in 17 matches in all competitions and they have won 11 of those games. Their defence has also been impressive this season, with the likes of Samuel Umtiti helping them to  11 clean sheets in their last 13 games. Roma have fallen out of the race for the Scudetto title, but they are still 3rd and look good to qualify for the Champions League again next season. Their weekend draw against Bologna ended their run of 4 successive victories and extends their unbeaten run to five games. They don’t have the best away records in competitions as they have won only 4 of their last 12 away games in all competitions. AS Roma have won one, lost two and drawn two of their last five meetings with Barca.