Friday, 21 December 07, 04:13 PM
Draw for the last 16 of the Champions League:
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Man Utd
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla
The choice matchup there is of course the Arsenal - AC Milan tie. Two of Europe's best footballing sides, and big teams with great histories. Kaka and Pirlo the keys for Milan, and Hleb and Cesc for
Arsenal.
However all the teams in this years knockout stages are quite impressive, and there is going to be some fantastic football on show.
Celtic will have to battle and scrap to get something against Barcelona, but I don't expect them to win, especially with Eto'o back now. Any chance of a result will depend on them effectively
resorting to "British" football.
Lyon will be a tricky test for favourites Man United. A lot will depend on Karim Benzema, who is Europe's most in-form young forward. Juninho will be important as well, with his ability from set
pieces, and Lyon will look to keep it tight and work through counter-attacks with Benzema and set plays with Juninho.
Schalke v Porto is a group stage rematch from a few years ago. The teams are quite evenly matched, although Porto have more pedigree. This will probably be one of the really unpredictable and
potentially entertaining ties of the round.
Liverpool v Inter Milan has "tactical battle" written all over it. Steven Gerrard will come up aganst his old nemesis/inspiration Patrick Vieira, and Crespo will have a chance to get some revenge for
the lost final in which he scored (with AC Milan) from 3 years ago. Ibrahimovic, Cruz, Crespo, Figo, Stankovic, and Crespo make up an attack that will have Rafa Benitez sweating.
Roma v Real Madrid sees two attacking teams go up against each other, and will be another great encounter to watch. Both sides have suspect defences, although Roma are slightly more tight-knit than
Real at the moment, but lacking in the talent that the Los Merengues have at their disposal.
Chelsea have the easiest matchup, facing "minnows" Olympiakos, who are the first Greek side in history to make the knockout stages. The Greeks don't have much in terms of personnel, although are a
very good team. Players like LuaLua, Djordjevic, Kovacevic and Galetti are capable of brilliant moments, but no consistently so. Chelsea meanwhile will probably have brought in 2 or 3 more stars by
this time, although it's possible that Didier Drogba might be gone.
Fenerbahce vs Sevilla will see the Spaniards go through. Fener have some talented Brazilians, but not as talented as Sevilla's, and the Andalusians are looking stronger, and stronger.
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