Champions League round of 16: previews for this week's matches

Arsenal v Barcelona

Will Alexis Sánchez turn it on against his former team?

In their fifth meeting since they played each other in the 2006 Champions League final, Barcelona are again strong favourites following a sensational run of form. Luis Enrique’s team haven’t lost in any competition since October and have won 13 of their last 14 matches – their only draw in that time came when they fielded a weakened team against Valencia in the second leg of an 8-1 aggregate win over Gary Neville’s men.

Arsenal have been taken to pieces by Messi in the past, but Suárez goes into the game in better form. He is the top scorer in Europe’s top five leagues this year (10), with a rating of 8.07 in that time, but has scored just twice in eight appearances against Arsenal in the past – however both those goals came at the Emirates.Since the turn of the year Barcelona have scored 46 goals in 15 matches, with their all-conquering front three in rampant form. Neymar’s impressive tally of seven goals in 2016 looks mediocre compared to 14 from Lionel Messi and 15 from Luis Suárez, with the trio accounting for 78% of Barcelona’s goals this year.

Arsenal have some grounds for optimism. They are unbeaten against Barcelona in their last two meetings in London and they have scored in all seven of their matches against them in the Champions League. The hosts will need Alexis Sánchez to be at his best against his former club. The Chilean is Arsenal’s highest rated player in Europe by a distance (8.39), having scored three and set up four of the club’s 12 goals in the group stages, while also completing the second most dribbles per game of any player (6.4).

Juventus v Bayern Munich

Two of the pre-tournament favourites meet at the Juventus Stadium on Tuesday as last year’s beaten finalists host Bayern Munich. The teams are no strangers: they have met in four of the last 10 seasons in the tournament. Pep Guardiola is a man on a mission and is under some pressure to return the trophy to Munich during his stint at the club. A draw against an in-form Juventus side will provide a real test for the German champions, although Max Allegri’s side saw their run of 15 consecutive league wins come to an end in underwhelming fashion last Friday as they drew at Bologna.

Juventus have weapons of their own to exploit a weakened Bayern backline, who are without Jérôme Boateng, Holger Badstuber and Javi Martínez. Paulo Dybala was rested for that visit to Bologna at the weekend and will be the man tasked with posing problems to the visitors’ makeshift back four. The 22-year-old has 13 goals and eight assists in Serie A but he has not had the same impact in the Champions League. Paul Pogba, meanwhile, will be key in the midfield as Juventus look to suck up possession and attack Bayern on the counter.Bayern had a scare of their own at the weekend. They were trailing at half-time at home to Darmstadt before eventually running out 3-1 winners to maintain an eight-point lead in the Bundesliga. This team is not the free-flowing Bayern that Guardiola honed initially – they have not won a league game by more than two goals since November – but Robert Lewandowski, who has scored nine goals in six matches in 2016, is capable of making the difference in any game. Moreover, in Thiago Alcântara Bayern boast the highest rated player from the Champions League group stages (9.07).