Clash of the Titans

The only surviving former winners of European club football's greatest prize -- with five titles each -- meet in a heavyweight Champions League quarterfinal behind closed doors at the Estadio da Luz tonight.

Barcelona beat Bayern when the sides last met in the semifinals in 2015, but a repeat of the outcome, when the teams clashed in the 2013 semis somehow seems more likely.

Then Bayern ran riot, winning 7-0 on aggregate. They come to Lisbon fresh off a German league and cup double and having won their last 18 games in a row.

The two teams have, of course, dominated European football in the last decade. Since 2006, only twice has a semifinal line-up not featured either. Five out of the ten finals in the last decade have had either of the two sides.

The contest is also tipped as the battle between Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski.

In Lewandowski Bayern have Europe's most fearsome striker – he has scored 53 this season, including 13 in the Champions League, more than anyone else. Messi's tally of 31 goals too is not bad.

Quique Setien's team lost out to Real Madrid in La Liga so the sense remains that Messi must perform if Barcelona are to defeat Bayern.