Anticipation Ahead Of Champions League Draw
12/17/2004 1:09:00 AM
The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League will be made in Nyon, Switzerland, on Friday, with a strong possibility that Londoner David Beckham could be back in the UK capital with his Real Madrid side to take on Chelsea or Arsenal in a glamour tie.
Real stand an almost even chance of being paired with one of the London clubs, both of whom could also be drawn against Barcelona or Bayern Munich.
Four English clubs are through to the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time ever. But all of the Premiership sides face potentially very tough opponents. Manchester United and Liverpool, who finished runners-up in their groups, have three Italian sides among their five possible opponents. And Sir Alex Ferguson believes his United side are fated to meet AC Milan for the first time.
“The only team we haven’t played in my 18 years at United is AC Milan," Ferguson said. "We did play them in the United States during our summer tour but I have a feeling fate will throw it that way."
The draw, at the Uefa headquarters, will see the sides who finished top in their group – including Arsenal, Chelsea, Milan, Juventus, Inter, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco and Lyon - paired with a runner-up (PSV, Porto, Man Utd, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barca, Werder Bremen or Real Madrid).
Ironically for the group winners, there may have been little advantage in finishing top because
Real, Barca, Manchester United and Bayern - all runners-up - are the clubs with the best overall records in the Champions League.
Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez believes there is not much between any of the remaining 16 sides in terms of quality.
Benitez said: "We are into the knockout stages now and look forward to finding out who we will play.
"I’m not concerned with who that will be because at this stage of the competition every team is a good team, they all have excellent qualities."
England is the country with the most teams (four) left in the last 16. The apparent shift in the balance of power means that for the first time since 2001, Spain has only two participants left at this stage of the competition.
Does this mean there is a realistic chance of England improving on their 2001 record when three Premiership sides reached the quarter-finals?
Both Germany and Italy are also better represented at this stage than in recent years. There are three clubs from each country still involved, and it is the first time since 1997/98 that three German teams have progressed beyond the group stage.
Clubs from the same association cannot play each other and those who met in the group stage must also be kept apart. This means, for example, that Arsenal cannot meet PSV, Manchester United or Liverpool; their opponents will therefore be one of Porto, the holders, Bayern, Barca, Werder Bremen or Real. The three Italian clubs each stand a reasonable chance of being drawn with United or Liverpool.
The eight teams who finished in third place in their respective Champions League groups will be among the 32 sides in the Uefa Cup draw.
These eight refugees from the Champions League will be paired with runners-up from the eight Uefa Cup groups. Group winners such as Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Stuttgart will play a team that finished third in the Uefa Cup groups.
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