The draw for this season’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 has been completed and it has certainly produced some delightful fixtures to look forward to. These games will take place on February 24 and 25 with the second legs two weeks later on March 10 and 11. Here is the full draw as it took place in Nyon, Switzerland:
Chelsea-Juventus
Villarreal-Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon vs Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid-FC Porto
Lyon vs. Barcelona
Real Madrid-Liverpool
Arsenal-Rome
Inter Milan vs Manchester United
Reigning champions Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson take on their old friend, former Chelsea manager José Mourinho and his Inter Milan side, who were eliminated by Liverpool last year on the same stage. Mourinho had made it clear that he wanted to bring out one of the English “big four” and he certainly fulfilled his wish, as the first leg was played at the San Siro. The game at Old Trafford will no doubt revive memories of Mourinho’s famous celebration, when he ran down the touchline in March 2004 as his Porto team scored the last-minute equalizer that sent United out of the Champions League. . Of course Mourinho and Porto lifted the trophy that season beating Monaco in the final.
Sir Alex Ferguson is also looking forward to the tie. Ferguson believes that it will be very interesting to face Mourinho as he has a character with a lot of personality. Contrary to what used to happen between the two when Mourinho was in charge of Chelsea, Ferguson also said that he has always gotten along with the now Inter Milan manager. It didn’t take Mourinho long to start the psychological puns talking about Man Utd as well. He claimed that he wanted to face the best and that he got the European champions. Man Utd could also be crowned World Club Champions in Japan this weekend. Meanwhile, another of the English teams, Liverpool, faced current Spanish champions Real Madrid and their new manager, former Tottenham manager Juande Ramos. The former Tottenham manager has just taken over the Bernabéu and will no doubt be looking forward to returning to England with 9-time champion Real Madrid. Liverpool have the perceived second leg advantage at Anfield due to finishing their group on top. The tie is a repeat of the 1981 Paris final, which the English won 1-0 thanks to a goal from defender Alan Kennedy. That was the last time these two giants of European football met in a competitive match.
The draw also gave Italian manager Claudio Ranieri the opportunity for an emotional return to London and Stamford Bridge, against his former club Chelsea, who were beaten finalists last year. Ranieri is now the manager of Italian giants Juventus. Ranieri was a popular figure at Stamford Bridge before being replaced by none other than José Mourinho in 2004. This despite Ranieri guiding them to the Champions League semi-final where they lost to Monaco who, as mentioned above , then was defeated by Mourinho and Puerto. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal will play the first leg at home when they face AS Roma. The Arsenal manager believes the Gunners, like every other team remaining in the competition, have a good chance of lifting the trophy in Rome in May. Despite those tough draws for Arsenal and Chelsea, they will have breathed a sigh of relief when the draw was made, as they could have been paired with current favorites Barcelona. However, they will have been extremely happy to have avoided the Catalans, as mentioned above both Arsenal and Chelsea face tough draws against AS Roma and Juventus respectively.
The “unlucky” team to take out Barcelona was French champions Lyon and heading into the match, their sporting director Bernard Lacombe admitted they were very worried. Lyon could not have been presented with a more difficult game.
Spanish team Villareal, who finished second in the group stage behind Manchester Utd, were beaten, which at least on paper looks like one of the easier draws. They will face Greek side Panathinaikos, who overcame Inter Milan at the top of their group. So Panathinaikos will also be glad they didn’t finish second as Utd would have been waiting for them. Former champions, and I suspect a dark horse for this season’s event, Bayern Munich will play Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon and in the final tie of the round, another Portuguese team, Porto, will face another Spanish team, Atlético de Madrid.
There really are some big games to look forward to at the start of 2009. There will certainly be plenty of drama and some surprises, the UEFA Champions League never disappoints once it has entered the sudden death knockout stages.
