Three qualities that decide who lifts the Champions League

Eight top-class teams are still left in the 2015/2016 Champions League, but there can be only one champion. A closer look at the competition suggests that three key qualities tend to decide which team lifts the most prestigious trophy in club football.

1. The most important is team spirit. A team has to perform as a single unit, and every player needs to know how to combine with his teammates to win matches. Talent alone is rarely enough at this level. That is why there are so many examples of smaller clubs beating European giants.

2. A squad also needs quality players, the kind who can decide a game on their own. Lionel Messi, for example, has won the Champions League four times under three different managers.

3. The third important factor is being able to concentrate on the Champions League. A team that has to fight for its domestic title until the very last round will almost certainly see its European form suffer, especially if it is chasing even more trophies at the same time.

Among the eight remaining teams, Paris Saint-Germain deserve as much attention as Barcelona. The Parisians are fully capable of winning the Champions League because they meet all three criteria. They have already won Ligue 1, and Laurent Blanc can rely on players such as Ibrahimović, Cavani, Matuidi and Lucas Moura. The team has also been outstanding in defence, conceding only 15 goals in 30 French league matches and just three in eight Champions League games. On that evidence, it is very hard to find any real weakness in Paris Saint-Germain.

Real Madrid lack balance in their squad. They depend too much on Cristiano Ronaldo, who is not at his best in 2015/16. And despite the case for PSG, Barcelona and Bayern Munich remain the favourites. A closer look at Barcelona shows that they rely heavily on their clinical attacking trio, while Bayern Munich struggle when opponents refuse to play on the counter-attack.

Teams such as Manchester City, Wolfsburg and Benfica do not look strong enough for such a big success. Atlético Madrid have been consistent, but they were very lucky to get past PSV Eindhoven on penalties. City's bench is too short and Wolfsburg are weak in defence. Of all the underdogs, Benfica look the best equipped to cause an upset.

Much will depend on the quarter-final draw, because if the underdogs are drawn against each other, one of them could go all the way to the final.

How the quarter-finals went

The draw did produce surprises, though not the ones predicted. Paris Saint-Germain were knocked out by Manchester City, who drew 2-2 in Paris and won the return 1-0 to go through 3-2 on aggregate. Barcelona won their first leg against Atlético Madrid 2-1 but lost the second 2-0 in the Spanish capital. Bayern Munich edged past Benfica 3-2 on aggregate after a 1-0 home win and a 2-2 draw in the return. Real Madrid lost their first leg 2-0 in Wolfsburg and then turned the tie round with a 3-0 win at home, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring all three goals.

The semi-finals and the final

Real Madrid beat Manchester City 1-0 on aggregate, the only goal of the tie an own goal by Fernando in the second leg. Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich finished 2-2 on aggregate, and Atlético went through on away goals. The final at San Siro in Milan on 28 May 2016 was a repeat of the 2014 final. Sergio Ramos put Real Madrid ahead in the 15th minute, Yannick Carrasco equalised in the 79th, and after extra time Real Madrid won the shoot-out 5-3. Juanfran hit the post with Atlético's fourth kick, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored the decisive penalty.

The title was Real Madrid's 11th European Cup. Zinedine Zidane, appointed head coach in January 2016 after Rafael Benítez was sacked, became the first French coach to win the competition. The side judged to depend too heavily on one player therefore lifted the trophy, while Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain all fell short.