So, after a three-month affair, the final 16 in this year’s edition of the Champions League were decided and the draw, which took place on the 16th of December has paired them off into an octet, some of which are definitely some of the biggest affairs of the year in continental football.
The blockbuster ties
By far the most mouth-watering clashes are Arsenal-Bayern Munich and Barcelona-Manchester City. The Gunners have started off their league and continental campaigns well, although were on the receiving end of two consecutive defeats over this past week. The first, a 2-0 loss to Napoli, saw them knocked down into second place in the “Group of Death” and as a result were faced with the nerve-wracking possibility of dealing with some of the toughest sides in Europe. The second was their 6-3 humiliation at the hands of City that saw their lead cut to just two points at the summit of the Premier League.
Arsene Wenger’s men certainly haven’t had it easy as of late when entering the first knock-out round. In previous years they’ve had to contend with Barcelona (2009 and 2010), AC Milan (2011) and Bayern Munich last year. Although, they can take some comfort in the fact that they did manage to rattle die Roten in the second leg at the Allianz Arena where had they scored another goal, the Bavarian giants would not have been celebrating their triumph in May at Wembley. The Gunners also almost pulled off the same feat against Milan two years prior, where, despite falling 4-0 down after being thrashed in the away leg, a 3-0 victory in London nearly turned the tie on its head, leaving the Rossoneri thanking their lucky stars that they hadn’t conceded any goals while in their home leg.
So given all this, while the task ahead of them seems quite daunting, Pep Guardiola’s men aren’t invincible—as shown by their surprise 3-2 defeat to City, again, at home after seemingly having sewn up all three points pretty early in. indeed, die Roten looked certain to become only a handful of teams in Champions League history to complete their group with a 100% record only to see it all come undone in a bizarre collapse during the second half. The pressure will certainly be on the Germans as they look to become the first side since the modern-day tournament was organized to successfully defend their crow, with the last team to accomplish this was Milan in 1989 and 1990.
As for City, after two previous attempts, are finally through to the knockout rounds for their first time in their history, and will certainly face a stern test against Barcelona. However, judging by the 2012 Premier League winners’ performances in the league and continental competitions so far this year they seem to be finally finding their footing, bouncing back after a 3-1 loss to Bayern in their group to record four consecutive victories, including their last clash where they emerged victorious over die Roten in Munich. In fact, had they scored just one more goal, they would have unseated the reigning title-holders from their first place spot and certainly could’ve gotten a more favourable draw.
Nonetheless, Barcelona, whilst a top team doesn’t necessarily inspire the same fear in opponents that they once used to. New signing Neymar has started off quite brightly and is really starting to make his mark on his squad, buoyed by Messi’s absence due to injury, but obviously everyone saw how Bayern easily brushed aside the once-feared Catalan side last year in the semi-finals. Sure, the team’s supporters will argue that the Blaugrana were toothless without their talismanic no. 10 but regardless, the four-time Ballon d’Or winner is just one person—despite of what his impressive stats may say. And although he’s expected to be back well in time for his side’s crucial matches, it remains to be seen if he’ll be fully 100% to do what he does best come February. However, City have some worrying injury concerns of their own, as top scorer Sergio Aguero suffered a calf issue in the nine-goal thriller versus Arsenal and may be unavailable for their highly anticipated tie against the La Liga leaders. But certainly, for fans and neutrals alike, this will surely be one of the games to watch come next year.
The Spanish connection for the Rossoneri
AC Milan will again take on Spanish opposition in the first knock-out rounds, but thankfully it’s not Barcelona again, having already dealt with the Blaugrana in the group stages. However, at the risk of jumping the gun, they just might have to deal with Messi & Co. again should they get past Atletico Madrid after 180 minutes—but no need to harp on the future when the Rossoneri’s upcoming task will by no means be a walk in the park.
Los Rojiblancos are currently keeping pace in La Liga, which has as of late been reduced to largely a two-horse race between Real Madrid and the aforementioned Barcelona—so much so that really anyone has a 50% chance of predicting who’ll win the league at the end of the season. Impressively, not only is Diego Simone’s side staying in step with the powerhouse duo, but also is firmly sandwiched between Los Blancos and the Blaugrana. They’re five points ahead of their city rivals, and are only behind Barcelona due to the Catalans’ slightly superior efficiency in front of goal (44 vs. 43 goals). Even more impressive is Brazilian born Diego Costa still keeping pace in the league scoring charts with top marksman Cristiano Ronaldo with his 17 strikes making up nearly 1/3rd of his team’s goals so far this season.
So while “not the worst draw” as some at Milan have said, they’ll still have to be on their toes come February’s clash. After all they’re not looking good in the league—with a poor 19 points from 16 games which sees them in 10th and a disheartening 16 points off the last Champions League spot occupied by Napoli. They had some flashes of good play in their group so far, notably holding Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the San Siro, but other from that, despite beating a Celtic side that really made it all too easy for them due to their insipid performance in Scotland, they’ll really have to up their game if they want to get into the next round.
Seemingly easy and potentially thorny: The opponents for Manchester United and Chelsea
The other two Premier League sides, Manchester United and Chelsea’s ties can be described as seemingly straightforward and potentially tricky respectively. The Red Devils, who topped Group A have been paired off with Greek outfit Olympiacos in a tie that should be, on paper, at least, not difficult whatsoever for David Moyes’s men. In fact, one can go so far as to say that only Borussia Dortmund has made out better in their pairing: die Schwarzgelben will face off Russian outfit Zenit, who were the worst team qualifying for the round of 16 with a poor six points earned, the lowest in the tournament’s history. With no disrespect intended towards the Greek Super League leaders, they were fortunate due to their slightly superior goal advantage to get out of their group as the runners’ up. Even better, they faced off against bottom-ranked Anderlecht in their last group fixture, earning them those +2 goals (in a 3-1 victory) that rendered Benfica’s victory over PSG a moot point.
Although the Red Devils are struggling in the domestic play, they have far more experience in continental competition than their opponents, who have appeared in the round of 16 only twice previously in their history. As for Chelsea, who will take on Galatasaray, Jose Mourinho will have to contend with two of his former players, striker Didier Drogba and midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who combined to produce the solitary goal that sent Juventus packing in Istanbul. The 2012 Champions League winners haven’t had the most solid of starts domestically or continentally, despite being third in the league and topping their quartet in the group stages. They were able to earn all six points (and put six unanswered past) Schalke but were unable to get past Swiss side Basel both home and away. And, recently, in domestic play, they were dumped out of the League Cup by Sunderland, a side that sits dead last in the league with just nine points from 16 games.
But certainly the Blues are capable of doing the unexpected. No one anticipated them winning the trophy back in 2012 and they bounced back from crashing out of the group stages last year to win the Europa League. And their opponent, the Cimbom not only barely scraped through their group, with their seven points the second lowest after Zenit, but also are nine points behind leaders Fenerbahce in the Turkish Super Lig. Moreover, their new coach, Roberto Mancini will be keen to make amends for his numerous failures to make any inroads in the Champions League with the different sides he managed in the past (in particular, Manchester City and Inter), and the club itself would like to replicate—and better—the same result they had last season, when they got to the quarter-finals for the fifth time in their history.
So, many have been called, but few will be chosen. Who will be the lucky eight to take one step closer towards the final dance in Lisbon on 24 May? We’ll just have to wait and see—but for anyone who calls himself or herself a football fan, opening days in February can’t come soon enough.