Possible matchups for the next round of the Champions League
In September, 32 teams started out on a quest to bring Champions League glory for their clubs and just a couple of months on, the number has been whittled down to the last 16.
The Champions League group stages reached a climax last night with almost all the big guns making it through and the only disappointment being Ajax, but they were pitted in such a tight group that it was almost impossible for them
to scrape through in the presence of Real Madrid and AC Milan.
The sixteen qualified teams will now be broken into two pots of 8, with the group winners classified as the seeded teams in one pot and the runner-up from the groups classified as un-seeded teams in another.
The rules of the first knock-out round of the Champions League stipulate that one group winner cannot be pitted against another. Similarly, the two teams which have been in the same group in the previous round cannot play against
each other in the first knockout round. And lastly two teams from the same country cannot be pitted against each other.
The two pots for next Friday’s draw will be looking something like this:
Seeded
Unseeded
Barcelona
Arsenal
Man Utd.
Inter Milan
Chelsea
AC Milan
Bayern Munich
O. Lyon
Real Madrid
Valencia
Shakhtar Donetsk
Marseille
Tottenham
Roma
Schalke 04
Copenhagen
The draw for the first knockout round will be held in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday the 17th of December, when the teams will learn their fate as to who they will be facing in the next round of the Champions League.
The matches of the first knockout round will be played over two legs, with the first legs taking place on the 15th, 16th and 22nd, 23rd of February while the second legs will be scheduled for the
8th, 9th of March and the 15th, 16th of March 2011.
Based on the above explained rules, here is a team by team analysis of who can play against whom.
The possible opponents for each team are listed below:
AC Milan
Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern, Shakhtar, Tottenham, , Schalke
Arsenal
Real Madrid, , Bayern , Barcelona, , Schalke
Barcelona
Marseille, Roma , Arsenal, , Inter, AC Milan, Lyon
Bayern Munich
Arsenal, Marseille, AC Milan Inter, Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen
Chelsea
Inter, Valencia, Roma , AC Milan, , Copenhagen, Lyon,
Copenhagen
Manchester Utd, Bayern, Shakhtar, Tottenham , Schalke, Real Madrid, Chelsea
Inter
Real Madrid, Shakhtar, Manchester Utd, Chelsea, Schalke ,Barcelona, , Bayern
Lyon
Tottenham, Manchester Utd , Shakhtar, , Chelsea, Bayern, Barcelona, Real Madrid
Manchester United
Roma, , Marseille, Inter, AC Milan, Copenhagen, Lyon
Marseille
Bayern, Real Madrid, Schalke , Shakhtar , Barcelona, Manchester Utd, Tottenham,
Real Madrid
Marseille, Copenhagen, Arsenal, Roma, , Inter, Lyon
Roma
Real Madrid, Shakhtar, Chelsea, Tottenham , Schalke ,Barcelona, Manchester Utd,
Schalke,
Valencia, Copenhagen, Marseille, AC Milan, Roma, Arsenal, Inter,
Shakhtar Donetsk
Marseille, Inter, Valencia, Roma, Copenhagen, AC Milan, Lyon
Tottenham
Copenhagen, Roma, AC Milan, Lyon, Valencia, Marseille
Valencia,
Tottenham, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Shakhtar
It surely is going to an exciting draw next Friday as we can possibly have mammoth clashes like Arsenal Vs Barcelona or Real Madrid and Manchester United Vs Inter Milan or AC Milan, but the fans and the managers will be hoping
that they can avoid such a fate of going up against other European giants at such an early stage in the competition but such is the beauty of this competition that there are no guarantees.
The third placed teams from each group will proceed to play in the third round of the Europa League, the draw for which will also be made next Fiday.
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