Champions League Last 16 which teams to play/avoid

mike65

Group Winners

FC Porto
Chelsea
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Barcelona
Man Utd
Inter Milan
Sevilla

Runners up

Liverpool
Schalke 04
Olympi/\kos
Celtic
Lyon
Roma
Fenerbahce
Arsenal

Oh teams from same country can't draw each other in first knock out round or another team from the same qualifying pool.

Discuss!

Mike.

Royale with Cheese

Arse v Porto please... everyone else is extremely tough, I'm sure Pool will be hoping for Sevilla too

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

Paul Tergat

As a utd fan our options are:

Schalke 04
Olympi/\kos
Celtic
Lyon
Fenerbahce

Lyon are the team to avoid for me. Other than that i don't mind playing any of the rest apart from Celtic but thats just to avoid a clash of interests. My choice would be:
1. O'kos
2. Fenerbahce
3. Schalke
4. Celtic
5. Lyon

PauloMN

For Celtic, there's no easy pairing, however my personal choice would be Porto to try to avenge our UEFA Cup defeat.

Wouldn't mind seeing Celtic play Madrid or Inter also, would like to avoid Barca, Seville and Chelsea though.

Utd would be a good game just because it's Utd.

Necronomicon

Chelsea
Olympiakos
Celtic
Lyon
Roma
Fenerbahce

Man Utd
Schalke 04
Olympiakos
Celtic
Lyon
Fenerbahce

Liverpool
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Sevilla

Arsenal
FC Porto
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Barcelona
Inter Milan

Celtic
FC Porto
Man United
Chelsea
Real Madrid
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Sevilla

Are those right? You can really see the difference between finishing 1st and 2nd. Wenger might regret playing a second string in Seville.

mike65

Liverpools possible opponents

Real Madrid
AC Milan
Barcelona
Inter Milan
Sevilla

Sevilla are the obvious team but Liverpool will draw Real Madrid, Barca or AC Milan.

Mike.

KdjaCL

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

, I'm sure Pool will be hoping for Sevilla too

why in the name of jaysus would they want a side that hasnt lost over 2 legs in 3 years and they played a lot of games.

Sevilla Celtic please

you also cant play a team from your group so it narrows down the options.



kdjac

Paul Tergat

Celtic cant play Milan - same group

eirebhoy

Just quickly in order of preference for Celtic:

1. Real Madrid
2. Sevilla
3. FC Porto
4. Inter Milan
5. Chelsea
6. Man Utd
7. Barcelona

Drag00n79

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

I'm sure Pool will be hoping for Sevilla too

I won't be. I think Sevilla would cause us big problems.

enda_4

For Utd I'd prob like to see Olympi a kos, but I'd nearly bet now we'll get Celtic

Royale with Cheese

Shamrok wrote: »

I won't be. I think Sevilla would cause us big problems.

Inter/Milan/Real/Barca won't?

A Dub in Glasgo

I would be happy with Porto or Real Madrid

Drag00n79

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Inter/Milan/Real/Barca won't?

I didn't say they wouldn't but for me Sevilla would not be first choice.

KdjaCL

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Inter/Milan/Real/Barca won't?

With exception of Inter would expect pool to beat any of the others, crouch style football would beat them.


kdjac

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

A Dub in Glasgo

21st I think

An Citeog

As a United fan, the only team I'd want to avoid is Lyon. That said, I don't think there's too much to fear in the runners-up pot.

Drag00n79

Friday week cos Uefa Cup matches next week.

Royale with Cheese

Porto aside I'd take Real, or Barca if Henry is guaranteed to play and Arsenal are guaranteed to win.

cson

Ah **** it, we're gonna have to play the best sides at some stage, might as well get them out the way at the start

Dont be at yourself

why in the name of jaysus would they want a side that hasnt lost over 2 legs in 3 years and they played a lot of games.

Their form has been shocking in La Liga this season. They've just lost their talismanic manager. They won't be an easy ride, but I would definitely say they're a better draw than Real, Barca or the two Milan sides.

I'd still prefer to draw Real though. It'd be fantastic. They're one of the only top European sides we haven't played recently, Rafa would know them inside out, and knocking them out would send a message to the rest of the teams.

shane86

Damn no two teams per country rule, might be in Australia at the height of the CL and wanted to see a Man U v Liverpool game beforehand. Last year against Milan I half wanted to see Man U win, just so it could set up what would have been the grudge match of the century.

Would like Utd v Celtic, but i doubt Celtic could knock them out.

When are the next matches starting?

Dont be at yourself

Would like Utd v Celtic, but i doubt Celtic could knock them out.

Celtic did beat them at Old Trafford not too long ago, didn't they? It's cup football, anything can happen! Looking at the pots, there aren't going to be easy draws for any team in the competiton.

PHB

lol, in a game where United really didn't give a **** about. Celtic would be a great draw for United, i'd be incredibly happy to get them. Lyon are the team to be wary about

Dont be at yourself

Undoubtedly Lyon would be the tougher draw, but Celtic would be no cake walk. Utd would obviously be favourites for both though.

It's not easy to play Celtic at home, and if they get a result there, it's not outside the realms of possibility to see them hang on for a result in the second leg! The short trip south may also help their shocking away form, but who knows?

Unearthly

I would like to get ólympiakos. Eitherway I'd fancy Man Utd to beat any of the teams they face this year in the CL.

eirebhoy

PHB wrote: »

lol, in a game where United really didn't give a **** about.

My arse they didn't.

Anyway, with the 2nd leg away from home I wouldn't fancy Celtic to beat any of those teams tbh.

Erin Go Brath

I hope Celtic get Porto they'd have a decent chance i feel.
Anything else and we'd be huge underdogs i'd imagine.
Celtic V Man Utd would be exciting stuff!
Was in Parkhead when Naka scored the winning goal last year.
Never seen anything like the celebrations. More of that please!

Nailz

I wouldn't mind any team in our pot to play us, not even Lyon because in '99 we had to play all hard teams. Bayern Munich & Barcalona were both in our group, then in the quarter finals we had to get past Inter Milan, then in the semis Juve were in the way and in the second leg with 2 goals down in 20 minutes we came back to beat them 3-2 inspired by Keano. And Bayern in final without Keane or Scholes, and we all know what happened...

PHB

Yeh, I do think that hard games make you more likely to win. But at the same time, easy draws have the same effect I think too. You just don't want inbetween, and I think Lyon are inbetween

Celtic I'd love. I think their whole really impressive home form is an utter myth, and I think United would utterly destroy them up there. I'd really like to draw them just for that, it'd be hilarious. Also you're ensured of qualification since they are absolutely shocking away from home.

yahoo_moe

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Porto aside I'd take Real, or Barca if Henry is guaranteed to play and Arsenal are guaranteed to win.

It'd be some match... remember Juve and Vieira 2 years ago?

I think Arsenal would obviously like Porto most but the draw isn't everything - two years ago, we had to beat Real and Juve just to reach the semis but last year we lost to PSV in the last 16.

If Arsenal are to win it, I'd fully expect to have to beat three of the "top sides" anyway so I'm not ALL that pushed about when it happens. I think Real, for example, would be very beatable.

Eirebear

you lot must be delighted Rangers went out last night.........:o

chopperbyrne

Why?

el rabitos

dont think liverpool have to fear anyone tbh, we've lost 1 2leg match under rafa and 1 final in 3 years, not a bad record

sevilla are unbeaten in the uefa cup, swell.

would be delighted to get any of the spanish teams.

Eirebear

chopperbyrne wrote: »

Why?

sarcasm chopper..sarcasm

pd101

United and Chelsea look like they'll get an easy enough tie. Liverpool and Arsenal should be kicking themselves for not topping two relatively week groups.

StickyMcGinty

KdjaCL wrote: »

With exception of Inter would expect pool to beat any of the others, crouch style football would beat them.


kdjac

I'd take Inter, they're always underachievers in europe. All other teams have much more european experience.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

smemon

not too bothered who Utd get.. all easy enough home ties and you'd expect Utd to get something away from home against them all.

as for Celtic, probably Porto are most do-able. Celtic need a 1-0+ win at home though to stand any chance of going through. They cannot go away from home and win, and if all they need is a draw, well that won't happen as they can't hack the pressure.

keeping a clean sheet at home is vital for Celtic.

eirebhoy

According to some very smart Celtic fan:

Heres what I calculated based on the rules - and - assuming that all 'legal combinations' are equally likely.

I found 6176 possible draw combinations

Our chances of drawing each team worked out to be:

Man Utd 19.7%
Chelsea 18.8%
Inter Milan 13.4%
Porto 12.5%
Sevilla 12.5%
Real Madrid 11.5%
Barcelona 11.5%
AC Milan 0%


So that adds up to: English team: 38.5%, Spanish team: 35.5%, Neither: 26%

This seems at first glance to be skewed, but the reason the English teams are top is because they can't be drawn against Liverpool or Arsenal. And Inter are next because they can't be drawn against Roma.

The reason Man Utd are slightly more likely to be drawn against us, than Chelsea is to do with a minor 'domino effect' of an Italian team being second in Man Utd's group.

Obviously there isn't much between them but last season it was worked out that Celtic had the biggest chance of drawing Valencia or Milan. Coincidence or not they drew Valencia in the trial draw and Milan in the real draw.

I find it very interesting that even though there's 3 Spanish teams and 2 English teams in Pot 1, there's still more chance of Celtic drawing an English team.

Eirebear

eirebhoy wrote: »

According to some very smart Celtic fan:
.

LIAR!!

PauloMN

PHB wrote: »

Yeh, I do think that hard games make you more likely to win. But at the same time, easy draws have the same effect I think too. You just don't want inbetween, and I think Lyon are inbetween

Celtic I'd love. I think their whole really impressive home form is an utter myth, and I think United would utterly destroy them up there. I'd really like to draw them just for that, it'd be hilarious. Also you're ensured of qualification since they are absolutely shocking away from home.

Destroy them up there? Like last season?

Shocking away from home indeed, still scored two in OT last season. What was that quote... "Ferdinand is a clown. He was a liability for the first goal and he is always a liability. It was Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink against Rio Ferdinand of Barclays Bank.". I don't like Dunphy much but that made me laugh.

Man Ure... bring 'em on!

d22ontour

It's the business end now and thinking what look like weak teams are favourable doesn't always work out that way.As was posted above anyway , to win it you will have to beat the cream of Europes finest so looking for a supposed weak team in the last 16 is irrelevent.

Lex Luthor

As a Liverpool fan, my first choice would be Real as I don't remember playing them in CL yet.

As for Lyon and they way everyone is putting them on a pedastel. I do not think they are as good as everyone thinks. If you remember last year, they were top of their group and everyone did not want to get them in the knockout stage. Then they came up against Roma who beat them who eventually got humiliated by Man U. They have just come 2nd in their group to Barca with just Rangers & Stuttgart below them so its not like they weren't expected to qualify.

bullpost

As a Chelsea fan would love to get Celtic, simply for the sense of occasion.

shane86

PHB wrote: »

Yeh, I do think that hard games make you more likely to win. But at the same time, easy draws have the same effect I think too. You just don't want inbetween, and I think Lyon are inbetween

Celtic I'd love. I think their whole really impressive home form is an utter myth, and I think United would utterly destroy them up there. I'd really like to draw them just for that, it'd be hilarious. Also you're ensured of qualification since they are absolutely shocking away from home.

With opinions like this floating around, seeing Celtic knock Man U out early on would make my entire year.

And if they do, the above quote by PHB is going in my sig for at least a year

DSB

Celtic are by far the worst team left in the thing. Together with *******kos will be the 2 teams everyone wants.

Eirebear

As much as i want to see celtic get humped rotten in the next round.....under rate them and you could be in for a nasty surprise.

Melion

Id love for Liverpool to get Real, Inter or Sevilla. Real because we've never got a crack at them in the CL, Inter because they always blow up in the business end of the competition and Sevilla because i dont think they are the force they were for the last 2 years.

Dont think any teams wants to get us though.