Champions League: Talking points as Tottenham need to come from behind against AC Milan while Bayern Munich play PSG

As the Champions League last 16 continues with its crucial second-leg matches, Sky Sports’ football writers pick out the key talking points from the standout ties.

Champions League last-16 results and fixtures:

Chelsea 2-0 Borussia Dortmund (agg 2-1)
Benfica 5-1 Club Brugge (agg 7-1)
Tottenham vs AC Milan (agg 0-1), Wednesday, kick-off 8pm
Bayern vs PSG (agg 1-0), Wednesday, kick-off 8pm

Can record-breaker Mbappe get what he wants from PSG – and without Neymar?

Bayern Munich vs PSG (agg 1-0), Wednesday, kick-off 8pm

It has been a good week for Kylian Mbappe, who broke the Paris Saint-Germain goalscoring record with his 201st goal for the club on Saturday evening.

It is a major landmark for the 24-year-old forward – but now the attention turns back to the Champions League, the only trophy to have evaded the Frenchman in his career.

Image: Kylian Mbappe is now PSG's record goalscorer but is still after the Champions League

PSG go into Wednesday night’s last-16 second leg at Bayern Munich trailing 1-0 from the first encounter in Paris. The French champions will need a major performance to progress and will likely turn to their talismanic No 7 for inspiration.

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However, they will be without fellow star forward Neymar. The Brazilian has been ruled out for the remainder of the season as he undergoes surgery on an ankle injury picked up in February. The French side have lost one of their key players in one of the most crucial parts of the season – and Mbappe will need to play an even bigger role.

But should PSG go out of the competition at this early stage, it would open up a wave of speculation about Mbappe’s future in Paris. Can PSG deliver Mbappe the trophy he really wants?

The player himself is adamant that Champions League fortunes will not dictate his future, but Mbappe would be 25 by the time the next knockout stages come around. He will be entering his prime and would want to be at the best possible club to achieve multiple European honours to match his stature.
Sam Blitz

Will Spurs kickstart their season again?

Tottenham vs AC Milan (agg 0-1), Wednesday, kick-off 8pm

Tottenham have not won a European knockout game in any UEFA competition since they reached the Champions League final in 2019.

That is not the only hoodoo Spurs are facing as they prepare to host AC Milan on Wednesday night. It has been a decade since Antonio Conte last made the Champions League quarter-finals as a manager, with last-16 and group-stage exits in each of his last four campaigns at Europe’s top table.

Image: Tottenham are in need of a boost after losing back-to-back games without scoring

They perhaps will not get a better chance to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League than this year – as they come up against a side in a similar situation to themselves: Out of the title race and in the midst of inconsistent results.

Trailing Milan 1-0 from the first leg, Conte and Spurs need a last-eight spot in this year’s competition to kickstart some life into their season and show this side have improved from last season.

An exit and Spurs will be competing for fourth place again, as they were at the end of the last campaign – is this enough for Conte, Harry Kane and others to stay faithful to this project for another season?

Spurs have missed their shooting boots in their last two games – but have managed big derby wins in their most recent home matches against West Ham and Chelsea. Those two matches are something to replicate on Wednesday.
Sam Blitz

Musiala is the main man for Bayern now

Bayern vs PSG (agg 1-0), Wednesday, kick-off 8pm

From 'shy Bambi' to 'next Messi'

How Bayern Munich youngster Jamal Musiala stepped up to become a superstar

Speaking to Jamal Musiala in the mixed zone after the German Super Cup win in Leipzig in July, he outlined the challenge of replacing outgoing striker Robert Lewandowski. Musiala had been the first of five Bayern Munich players to score that afternoon.

“With all the goals that he scored, it is not easy to find a player like that. But we have an amazing squad and we have to spread the goals out between all of us and have to find offensive solutions apart from Lewandowski to score goals.”

As the Michael Jordan meme goes, Musiala took that personally. The 20-year-old midfielder is Bayern’s top scorer in the Bundesliga this season, becoming perhaps their most important player. Against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, the team will turn to him.

Image: Bayern Munich's Jamal Musiala has been in fantastic form in the Bundesliga this season

As well as the goals, Musiala is second in the Bundesliga for assists this season. He also ranks fifth for the most dribbles in the competition too. His movement, on the ball and off it, is proving elusive – an unlikely feat given that he stands six feet tall.

Julian Nagelsmann has said that the ball sticks to Musiala’s foot like a magnet and the Bayern coach has found an interesting role for him in this team. The rotations around Musiala often change, the formation too, but there is a zone that he has made his own.

“Left-side 10,” that is how Musiala described it that day in Leipzig. “It is pretty open,” he explains. “You can always rotate to go out wide or come inside, there is space inside for me to turn and dribble into and create chances. It all depends on the opponent how we play.”

PSG will be doing their own thing in Munich with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe to call upon, but do not be too surprised if it is Musiala who is the decisive figure in this Champions League tie. The man who has stepped up since Lewandowski’s departure.
Adam Bate