In a few hours, the first knockout draw of the UEFA champions league will take place in Nyon, Switzerland. The road to Rome will commence for Europe's elite clubs - the chance of hoist the trophy and proclaim its self as the greatest club on the continent. Not all is rosy, careful preparation, tactical efficiency and most of all LUCK guides a club to achieve Europe's ultimate's prize. The 2008/09 Champions league is no exception - the last 16 clubs will all be hoping for favorable draws. Continental giants such as Barcelona, Man Utd, Liverpool amongst others who qualified as group winners will find it harder this year to draw the so called "easier draws" - thanks to a less than stellar performance amongst the like of Real Madrid, Chelsea, Arsenal and Inter who finished runners up in the group stages and perhaps might actually find it a lot easier during the draw for the knock out round, Hmm... what a tactic. While clubs from the same country will avoid each other, heavyweight match-ups amongst these European giants looks inevitable.
The Spanish Armada: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid & Villarreal Much to no surprise, only Barcelona managed to claim top spot of all the Spanish teams in the group stages - the likes of Real Madrid did little to dispel critics with its average performance in the group stages along with Villareal whose last minute farce against Celtic did little to help thier cause of finishing tops of the group. A solid showing by Atletico Madrid wasn't enough to claim top spot but it was always going to be hard with the likes of Liverpool in the same group. Needless to say, all runners up will hope to avoid the Catalan giants who have been absolutely amazing this season but Chelsea, Lyon, Inter or Arsenal will find themselves paying a visit to Lionel Messi and co.
Armed with the never-ending check book along with a new manager, Real Madrid be expected to produce good run in the UEFA champions league to rescue what has been a poor season according to those lofty Benabeu fans but if recent form is anything to go by, the turmoil might not be over and a Champions league trophy might just be a little bit out of reach. A draw against Portuguese giants FC Porto and Athenian great
Panathinaikos would be considered very favorable but if all goes awry, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Roma and Man Utd will be eagerly queuing up.
Villarreal and Atletico Madrid might be considered one of this year's dark horses but Yellow Submarines fans will believe their team is strong enough to challenge for top honors given favorable circumstances. Villarreal's best hope may lie with a pairing against Panathinaikos or maybe FC Porto and AS Roma.
Led by Sergio Aguero, Atletico Madrid have proved themselves a force to be reckoned with in Europe yet a less than stellar domestic campaign does little to calm the nerves. Like Villarreal, a draw against Porto, Roma or Panathinaikos would be eagerly welcomed but given Atletico's unpredictable form, a trip to Manchester, Turin or Munich wouldn't be the end of the world.
The Top 4: Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea & Arsenal Group winners Manchester Utd and Liverpool would be less than pleased with Chelsea and Arsenal's group stage antics - the plan was fool proof, win thy group thus we all get fairly easy draws. I reckon the memo never made its way to London thus resulting in a tougher than expected knock out draw looms for both group winners. Cup holders Man Utd would surely fancy a trip to Lyon or Sporting and maybe Madrid to face Atletico but its karma has its way, the Santiago Bernabeu against Madrid bound Ronaldo would make the perfect script.
Steven Gerrard and company should be confident about their chances advancing past the first knockout round thanks to master tactician Rafa Benitez. Over the past few years, the Merseyside club has proved its style is more suitable for the champions league rather than the domestic league but nevertheless, a trip to Milan to face The Special one wouldn't be its first choice to say the least.
Ah, Scolari... what has thy done to Chelsea! A more likable Chelsea should be able to withstand the first knock out round except the likes of Barcelona come strutting along. If the London club manages to avoid a trip to Spain, ex Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri might be eager for revenge against his old employers which might not be the best idea. A Chelsea vs Bayern match up should be very interesting nonetheless.
With an average age of 19 - 25, Arsene's boys-cum-boys haven't exactly been up to task. The domestic form wouldn't scare any of the big heavyweights but Arsenal have a knack of playing great against the top teams still they will like to avoid Barcelona or Juventus. A date with Roma would set the football purists salivating - two teams who play the beautiful game.
The Lega Calcio - Juventus, Inter and Roma A home defeat to CFR Cluj wasn't part of the plan yet Roma bounced back miracoulously to take top spot ahead of Chelsea. Following in the footsteps of Totti, the Rome club has managed to salvage a disastrous start to the domestic season with its recent performances and its gotten only better. Totti's strking partner Mirko "footballer/part-time stripper" Vucinic has been in good form this season thus the Gialorossi faithful have reasons to hope for the best. Of all the group winners, Roma might have the most favorable draw.
The Old Lady is doing her best to turn back the clock. Tinkerman Ranieri has done nothing short of wonders for the Turin clubs and the efficiency of Del Piero and Chillieni make Juventus a force to be reckoned with. Drawn into the group of death, Juventus made little work of defeating Real Madrid twice and taking care of business against Zenith and BATE thus securing its qualification with a game to spare. If Ranieri's men avoid injuries, they should advance to the quarter final stages with relative ease if they avoid Chelsea... things could get a little rough then.
The special one with the special team aims to win the special cup for the second time in his career. With Inter running away with its domestic title, Mourinho's squad looks like the real deal with minor adjustments. Alcohol fan Adriano looks set to leave the Milanese club and rumors of cup-tied Drogba appear to be waning. Mourinho will fancy a trip back to former club FC Porto but given his lofty goals, he shouldn't be quaking in his boots with a draw against Barcelona, Man Utd or arch nemesis Liverpool. If Mourinho can keep things under wraps at Inter and establish a set formation which the players are comfortable with, a bus trip to Rome in May looks very feasible.
The so called "light weights" - Sporting Lisbon & Panathinaikos Portuguese hopefulls Sporting will be hoping to draw fellow lightweights Panthinaikos if they have any hope of advancing to the quarterfinals because any other scenario could spell disaster. The midfield duo of Veloso and Moutinho will have their work cut out while aging Brazilian forward Leidson might find it too difficult to break the defence of the likes of Liverpool, Mau Utd or Juventus.
Panathinaikos have no hope! That sentence wouldn't be far fetched but since the game is not played on paper, anything can happen. Few predicted the Greek club to top a group which featured Inter Milan but as luck would have it they let the cat out of the bag. A date looms with one of Europe's top club. Henk Ten Cate's man would defintely not relish a trip back to his former employers Chelsea but whoever the club is pitted against, they surely would not relish it.
Last but not Least : Bayern Munich, Lyon and FC Porto Perhaps the best run club over the past 5 years has been Lyon. Chairman Jean Michel Alaus has made the French club untouchable in its domestic league but Europe has not been so kind. One could argue if Lyon didn't sell its star players every other season then it might possess the ability to challenge for European honors but that's football. In all honesty, Lyon have a good team - the likes of Toulalan, Juninho and Benzema are all world class but the rest of the squad isn't quite up to par. Lyon's problem lies in its defence and its single proned attack - Benzema is great but he's only human thus he cannot bag a hat trick in every game. A draw against Roma, Panathinaikos or FC Porto should see Lyon just scrape through but an unfavorable date against others might spell the end of Europe - oh well, cue up 8th straight title.
It was always going to be tough for the Portuguese giants after they secured qualification to the knock out round of Europe though maybe first place wasn't the plan but a training round game against Arsenal in the final group game did Porto lots of good. By finishing top spot they will avoid the likes of Barcelona, Man Utd and Juventus but could face the likes of Inter, Chelsea or Real Madrid. FC Porto have the talent to battle it against Europe's big boys but the final result is anyone's guess.
Someone once told me Luca Toni is Europe's top earner - 10 million euro's annually AFTER TAXES! Surely this cannot be true but if it is, it surely money well spent. Bayern Munich have been unpredictable all season; they stink one week and incredible the next week. Can Bayern win it all? Well, the answer is probably not but they sure can try. Any club that draws the German giants will have its hands full. Will Ribery or Toni save Klinsmann blushes? Only time will tell.
