Who will win the Champions League? Our bold predictions for the final stages...

Now we now know what the round of 16 of the 2023-2024 Champions League is going to look like, let's make some bold predictions as to which of the 16 best teams are going to contest for the Man City crown.

If Manchester City and Bayern Munich are favorites, Real Madrid, Inter Milan or Arsenal can spring a surprise. Here are our predictions for the final stages of this Champions League!

This is surely the most unbalanced round of 16 of this final phase. The European champion, who won all their group matches, faces a surprising team from Copenhagen, who achieved the feat of emerging from a group made up of Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Galatasaray.

If the Danes showed great resources in the groups, the Citizens should progress without problem to qualify for the quarters. We see a big victory for Pep Guardiola's men with a score of 6-1 over the two matches.

By finishing second in their group, PSG could have fallen against a European giant, but this is not the case. The Parisians had a fairly lenient draw but will still have to battle against the Spaniards of Real Sociedad, led by a dangerously in-form Take Kubo this season.

The Parisians start as favorites in this match up and we look at a difficult qualification for Luis Enrique's men with a draw in the first leg and a 2-1 victory in the return.

RB Leipzig never has any luck in the draw. After inheriting Manchester City last year, Xavi Simons's side pulls up against Real Madrid this year. An interesting clash on paper that should lead to some very open matches!

While the Germans have been excellent at the start of the season, notably thanks to their Olmo/Openda/Xavi Simons triplet, the 'Los Blancos' seems untouchable at the start of the season, especially in the Champions League. We'll bank on Madrid qualifying with a 5-3 over the two matches.

On paper, this match is one of the most attractive of the whole competition. On the one hand, an impressive Inter in the league with a flamboyant Lautaro. On the other, an offensive Atletico, led by an on-fire Griezmann. 

The two teams seem at the same level this year and very lucky are those who can predict the winner of this duel. If we had to choose one, we would lean more towards Inter who already impressed last year, notably thanks to the ingenuity of Simone Inzaghi.

Though Lazio has made it this far, the Italians have been less than convincing in getting here, coming off two defeats and a record of seven goals scored and seven conceded. On the other hand, Bayern have been rock solid with five wins in six games.

So it's only natural that we see Bayern qualify by blowing out Lazio in the second leg at the Allianz Arena, with a 5-0 aggregate score.

Like the clash between Inter and Atletico,  the PSV and Borussia Dortmund outing is perhaps even harder to pin down. The Dutch reign supreme in the Eredivisie with 16 victories in as many matches. On the other hand, Dortmund is struggling in the league, despite good results in the Champions League.

The Germans, however, looked less than convincing in the group and we are looking more towards a victory for Luuk de Jong's teammates in a very close duel, on penalties, after a 4-4 in the two matches.

These are two teams in poor form who meet in the round of 16. Two champions in decline. If Barça returns to the final stages of the LDC for the first time since 2020, the Spaniards still suffered in the group with two defeats against Donetsk and Antwerp.

It is therefore a fairly balanced match up between these two teams but we still see Barça qualify through the back door by winning 3-2 in both matches.

All the lights are green on the Gunners' side. Solid in the league, Mikel Arteta's men confirmed in the Champions League with a 6-0 victory against RC Lens. For their part, the Portuguese provided the essentials by coming out of a fairly affordable group.

For their return to the CL, we see the Gunners qualify for the quarter-finals by mastering their opponent in both matches, with a cumulative score of 4-1.

Thus, the eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals would be as follows: Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven, PSG, FC Barcelona, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Inter Milan. From this observation, we imagined the potential quarters for this 2023-2024 campaign.

The first of these (potential) quarters would pit two Guardiola teams against each other: Barça and City. Here, we see the Citizens qualify without much difficulty with a cumulative score of 5-2.

Here is a clash that would be particularly fun to watch in the quarter-final. Could the Gunners bring down the White House? We are banking on this, due to the supposed absences of Courtois, Militao and Alaba from the Madrid side.

It's a duel between white and red that we imagine in the quarter-final and, here, no surprise. We see the Bavarians easily dispose of the Dutch with a score of 7-3.

This is going to be a very difficult one for the Parisians to navigate. Facing Simone Inzaghi's Inter, we imagine Mbappé's teammates breaking their teeth on the Italian defense and we are banking on Interists qualifying with a score of 2-1 in the two matches.

This would lead us to two very attractive halves with Inter, Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Which of these teams will lift the trophy? Let's take a punt! 

For lovers of the beautiful game, this hypothetical confrontation would be a feast for the eyes. Two playful, forward-looking teams with, as a bonus, the reunion between Harry Kane and his old rivals.

We imagine two very open matches with goals galore. In this game, it's difficult to bet against Bayern, who, in our opinion, will qualify for the final thanks to a goal from the inevitable Harry Kane!

What could be better in the semi-final than a replay of the 2022-2023 final? Interistes and Citizens would therefore find themselves in this semi-final. We expect a closed encounter and, to everyone's surprise, a second consecutive Inter Milan final which would end City's domination.

Thus, the potential final would pit Bayern Munich against Inter Milan and, here, we predict a 2-0 victory for the Germans, who would return to the top of Europe after their last success in 2020.