Six players with something to prove in the Champions League round of 16

The Champions League round of 16 gets under way this week. Here are six players who have a point to prove as we reach the business end of Europe’s premier club competition.

Edinson Cavani

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic now plying his trade at Manchester United in the Premier League, Cavani is at long last the undisputed marquee striker at Paris Saint-Germain. After spending the past three seasons shunted out to the wing, the former Napoli man has been restored to his preferred center forward position and has responded well, banging in 25 goals in 23 Ligue 1 outings. Cavani is not only the leading scorer in Ligue 1, but he is also the top goal-getter in any of Europe’s “big five” leagues.

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The Uruguayan has also netted a respectable haul of six goals in the Champions League group stage. Scoring against the likes of Ludogorets and Basel is all well and good, but now, as a two-legged showdown with Barcelona awaits, the impetus is on Cavani to show he’s the kind of player who can make a difference in the big games – something Ibrahimovic was often criticized for failing to do.

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PSG was ultimately built to challenge for the Champions League title, having reached the quarterfinals the past four seasons. If Cavani can fire the club one or even two steps further – to the semifinals or perhaps even the final – he will have done one better than Ibrahimovic, regardless of whether PSG come out on top in this season’s competitive Ligue 1 title race.

Alexis Sanchez

In spite of topping its group this time, Arsenal yet again finds itself matched up in the round of 16 against European powerhouse Bayern Munich. The Gunners’ ties against teams of Bayern’s stature have followed a predictable pattern in recent seasons. Typically, they get blown out in the first leg, make an admirable fightback in the second but manage to fall just short, resulting in them dropping out of the competition by March.

If there is one player capable of carrying Arsenal over the line this time, it’s Sanchez.

With Bayern struggling for results lately against middling German sides like Wolfsburg, Schalke and Werder Bremen, the Bundesliga champions look more vulnerable than in seasons past. The Gunners have been similarly underperforming of late. However, Sanchez remains a player capable of turning a game against top-level opposition completely on his own.

The marauding Chilean attacker appears to be at something of a crossroads in his Arsenal career. Will he stay or will he go? Will he rise up and be the hero the club is calling out for at the hour of need? Or will he go down as a good player who too often failed to deliver on the big occasions? Such as in Arsenal’s Premier League defeat to Chelsea, when he basically went missing for 90 minutes.

A vintage performance from Sanchez against a Bayern side that seems very much in transition at the moment could go a long way toward seeing the Gunners past the round of 16 for the first time since the 2009-10 season. It might also provide Sanchez a bit of added leverage in his ongoing contract renegotiations with the North London club.

Javier Hernandez

Somehow it had all gone wrong for Hernandez at Bayer Leverkusen this season. After a sensational debut campaign in the Bundesliga, in which he netted 17 goals in 28 league outings, Chicharito hit a rough patch, managing just five goals in his first 16 league appearances. He’d also come up flat in the Champions League, with just one goal in six.

Hernandez recently ended his 120-day scoring drought with a Bundesliga strike against Borussia Moenchengladbach, and he stayed hot over the weekend with two goals in a 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid man remains one of the few players on Roger Schmidt’s roster with significant experience in the latter stages of the Champions League, having started in the United team that lost the 2011 final to Barça.

Chicharito is likely to feature against Atletico Madrid, either in the starting lineup or off the bench. With the 28-year-old being strongly linked with a move to Major League Soccer, this could be Hernandez’s last chance to make an impact in Europe’s top club competition and perhaps extend his stay in Germany. Or stave off his return to North American soccer with a move to another club in one of Europe’s top leagues.

Sergio Aguero

Despite being perhaps the most talented striker in the Premier League, Sergio Aguero finds himself in the awkward position of having lost his starting spot at Manchester City to a Brazilian teenager with just a handful of Premier League appearances to his name.

But while City boss Pep Guardiola has preferred Gabriel Jesus in the league over recent weeks, Aguero has appeared in five out of six Champions League games this season. As City prepare to go head-to-head with a Monaco side that’s one of the in-form teams in Europe, Guardiola may again look to the 28-year-old Aguero’s experience at the highest level, rather than trust a teenager with no experience in European club competition.

Recent comments from Aguero have done little to clarify the Argentine’s future at City. But a strong showing in the Champions League knockout stage could certainly make a statement – to Guardiola and the brass at City as well as to any number of other suitors Aguero is sure to have at top clubs around Europe.

Jamie Vardy

If there’s been a bright spot to Leicester City’s dreadful “title defense” this season, it’s been the Champions League. While the Midlands club is in the precarious position of looking likely to become the first English top-flight champion to be relegated the following season since 1938, Leicester topped its Champions League group and now faces a difficult but winnable tie against Sevilla.

But if the Foxes are to progress, they will require big performances from their big players, namely striker Jamie Vardy, who despite the club’s Champions League success has yet to register a goal in Europe. Vardy is already under fire for his league form – a paltry return of just five goals in 21 appearances, three of which came in a single match against Man City in December. He has also yet to score a goal in 2017.

However, finding the back of the net in either leg against Sevilla could ease the pressure on Vardy and help him regain the confidence he needs to help Leicester fight its way off the bottom of the Premier League table. A couple of good performances in the Champions League could also dispel the growing notion of Vardy as a one-season wonder.

Radamel Falcao

Although he has two Europa League titles to his name – one with Porto and another with Atletico Madrid – Radamel Falcao has a surprising lack of pedigree in the Champions League. Prior to this season, the Colombian striker hadn’t appeared in the competition since the 2009-10 season.

After a couple of lost years in the Premier League, Falcao has returned to Monaco and recaptured his best form with 16 goals in 19 league games for the Ligue 1 leaders. With two goals in three Champions League appearances for Monaco, Falcao must be aware that this is probably the best chance he will ever get to make his mark in Europe.

Monaco currently is one of the best attacking teams in Europe. Despite being something of an underdog in the two-legged tie against Man City, the principality outfit is not to be underestimated. After topping a competitive group that included Bayer Leverkusen, CSKA Moscow and Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco will fancy its chances against City. After his disappointing spells with Manchester United and Chelsea, Falcao may also be eager to remind English opposition of what he’s capable of now that he’s seemingly back to his best.