It is clear that they really have chance of winning for each match that will take place in determining who is worthy to continue to the final round and fight for the championship title.
Atalanta and West Ham are not strong team with stable performance, these two team are experiencing bad conditions this season and in this European League they can focus and now have the opportunity to make it to the quarter-finals.
It is clear that Liverpool are the clear favorites over Atalanta and Leverkusen are the clear favorites over West Ham, we will see these two team finish the quarter-finals well.
But hopefully when they reach the semifinals they won't meet, if the match that brings them together occurs in the semifinals then it won't be an interesting match.
It just that by prediction can already see which 4 team will be in the semifinals because all the quarter-final matches are very easy to predict.
Atalanta have been an improving side overtime. They've had some rough edges but their performance in the league is still seen. Even though they may not be top trophy contenders, they're trying to stay in the domestic league instead of relegating. They'll be playing against Liverpool in the next phase of the UEL and goodnews is they've been able to gather enough confidence and momentum for the game which still puts them in and advantageous spot of finishing with a tangible result regardless.
Leverkusen this season have been very impactful in their games. They've been able to keep an unbeaten record so far and with the few games left till the season is wrapped up, the probability for them to remain with such feat is feasible. They've been a great team and their boss, Xabi has done his part of creating a notable differences in the atmosphere of the German Bundesliga.
They have had tough matches but still in both home and away encounters, they've remained positively consistent in their game performances and results too. Their stride in the UEL is seeming to take them till the finals and even add another trophy to their closet, regardless of the fact that they may have a top contender.
De Rossi has been given time to show himself. They're playing the league games and as well as the European games, their attention is on 2 trophies, European trophy will be a bit difficult for them and I don't think that currently De Rossi would be able to scale through all the clubs that will be presented to him to face in each advancement phase of the tournament.