Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Etihad Stadium

Image source, Rex

There are lots of reasons why Manchester City fans think this could be their year in the Champions League - and the omens are on their side too.

In April 1970, City swept aside Schalke in the semi-finals of the old European Cup Winners’ Cup, beating the German side 5-1 in the second leg, with Neil Young (pictured) scoring twice at their old Maine Road home to seal a 5-2 aggregate win.

City went on to beat Polish side Gornik Zabrze in the final in Vienna, for their only European trophy to date. Will they repeat the trick this season, and see off Schalke en route to Madrid on 1 June?

We shall see...

Paul Ince
Former England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

When you talk about players of the season, Raheem Sterling has to be up there. The amount of goals he scores with tap-ins... he is getting better. He is improving and is still young. Under Pep Guardiola, he will only get better.

City star Raheem Sterling into the action immediately down the right, but his cross is straight into the hands of Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann.

Good handling.

Image source, Reuters

Under way in Manchester and in Turin.

A reminder of the teams..

Teams are out onto the pitch and the Champions League anthem is loudly being booed at the Etihad Stadium.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand on BT Sport: "City's era (under Pep Guardiola) will be defined by whether they win the Champions League or not. If they don't, it will be frowned upon."

Agree or disagree?

Chris Bevan
BBC Sport at Etihad Stadium

It’s been a crazy day of weather in Manchester - with warm spring sunshine mixed with torrential downpours… a bit like the first leg of this tie but in meteorological form.

Things are a lot calmer tonight, as I am sure most City fans are hoping the game will be too, but although the rain has stopped the temperature has dropped and it is a chilly old evening at the Etihad.

Most of the players from both teams were wisely wearing gloves during their warm-ups, but Sergio Aguero is taking no chances and has gone for a snood too as he prepares his bid to break a personal record - the Argentina striker is looking to score in four successive Champions League games for the first time.

Image source, BBC Sport

Manchester City

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola tells BT Sport: "During the season with four competitions, injuries happen. It is the wrong moment of the season for injuries, especially in defence so Danilo has to play there.

"Schalke are a physically strong team like all German teams and have massive quality on the counter-attack. In the league they are not in the top four, but this is a different competition. We feel it will be tough until he last minute and we will try to put in a good performance.

"This is the second leg and with a bad result for them and they have nothing to lose. It is a dangerous situation."

Cristiano Ronaldo loves playing v Atletico Madrid.

Only against Sevilla (27) and Getafe (23) has he scored more goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo took the 2-0 first-leg defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano well.

He didn't speak to journalists after the game, but walking through the mixed zone he did say:

"I have five Champions League and Atletico has zero. I have five, Atletico zero."

Nice.

Juventus in Champions League finals...

Wins: 1985, 1996

Defeats: 1973, 1983, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2015, 2017

The £99m summer arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid was supposed to mark the end of that winless streak in the competition.

They have a huge task on their hands tonight to turn around the first-leg deficit.

Image source, Getty Images

The Atletico Madrid press team and even a few players had said I was a lucky charm for them in 2016 when they went on a spectacular run all the way to the Champions League final.

They beat the Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven, Spanish champions Barcelona and German champions Bayern Munich, only to fall at the last hurdle to their bitter cross-town rivals Real Madrid in Milan.

I had covered all of those knockout games, except the final, when their 'luck' ran out. It's something they joked about when I went back the following campaign.

That's the thing about Atleti - who will reach a fifth Champions League quarter-final in six years if they convert a 2-0 advantage into victory in their last-16 second-leg tie at Juventus on Tuesday - they are such an easy club to like.

They are one of my favourite teams to cover in the Champions League and the cauldron of the old Vicente Calderon on those big European nights was my number one venue. It was impossible not to develop a soft spot for them.

Read the column in full

Will Man City win the Champions League?

Why even bother with the debate Shamoon? None of the bitter so called neutrals want us to win it. You may as well have asked "What is your main gripe against City / Guardiola", it's all the answers going to get anyway...

Paul Ince
Former England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

Diego Godin is the leader. He masters the defence. Godin and Jose Gimenez can tackle, they can read the game and break up play. They are a perfect partnership.

Image source, .

Juventus' Leonardo Spinazzola makes his competition debut at left-back.

Attacking midfielder Federico Bernardeschi is picked ahead of Paulo Dybala, while Cristiano Ronaldo starts in attack alongside Mario Mandzukic.

The Italian champions and league leaders are without Juan Cuadrado, Sami Khedira, Douglas Costa, Mattia De Sciglio and Andrea Barzagli.

Juventus XI: Szczesny, Cancelo, Chiellini, Bonucci, Spinazzola, Can, Matuidi, Pjanic, Bernadeschi, Mandzukic, Ronaldo.

Image source, .

Atletico Madrid striker Alvaro Morata, who was rested for the 1-0 win over Leganes at the weekend, starts up front alongside Antoine Griezmann with fellow forward Diego Costa suspended.

Key players including defenders Diego Godin and Juanfran, and midfielders Lemar, Saul and Koke also return to the XI.

Atletico XI: Oblak, Arias, Godin, Gimenez, Juanfran, Lemar, Koke, Rodri, Saul, Griezmann, Morata.

Paul Ince
Former England midfielder on BBC Radio 5 live

When you play in cup competitions it is about the luck of the draw. We could end up having English teams knocking each other out.

Schalke finished runners up to champions Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season, albeit 21 points behind.

This season is a different story, having conceded 11 goals in three heavy defeats to leave them just four points above the relegation places.

Reports say the club's sporting director Jochen Schneider has told head coach Domenico Tedesco he has two games to save his job.

Does the Italian look like a man under pressure...?

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Will we see a Manc-xit tonight?