Draw 1 – Villarreal FC Vs Arsenal FC
The turnaround of fortune continues for Arsenal as they have drawn one of two possible teams that they really wanted, the other being Porto. After beating Roma on a very fortunate night for Arsenal, they had the best Premier League weekend they could have hoped for, beating Blackburn in a emphatic 4-0 win at the Emirates and Aston Villa losing to Arsenal’s bitterest rivals, Tottenham, to get the gunners in fourth spot for the Champions League. A further positive is nearly all their injured players will be back, and for the first time, Arsene Wenger will have a squad with in depth strength and creative options on the bench. Villarreal have had a better season thus far also sitting fourth in the Spanish Premier League, but matching the quality of the sides makes Arsenal the bookies favourite for this tie.
Draw 2 – Manchester United Vs FC Porto
A very fortunate draw for Manchester United, Porto are considered the weakest side remaining, though at one stage they had been tipped as outside favourites to make the final this season, but after losing to Arsenal 4-0 early on in the group stages, and losing one of their key players Ricardo Queresma, they really are up against it in this tie. Man Utd had just suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Liverpool, but they are still tipped to win the Premier League title and the Porto tie may even be considered a breath of fresh air.
Draw 3 – Liverpool FC Vs Chelsea FC
The third draw came in as the most mouth-watering of them all, Liverpool and Chelsea have such a large history in the competition and in the domestic games, with Guus Hiddink bringing out Chelsea’s best form and Liverpool have just come through two monumental wins against two monumental teams so this tie is set up to be something special. Neither team can be happy that their other two domestic rivals got “lucky”, but to win this competition they will have to face the best and beat the best at some point. As both teams are locked in the Premiership on 61 points the game looks dead even, only Chelsea have the advantage with the second leg being at Stamford Bridge.
Draw 4 – FC Bayern Vs FC Barcelona
The two highest scoring teams this season in the champions league lock horns with the first game played at Nou Camp, Barcelona have been on high scoring form in their domestic games recently, but they did show a hint of struggle against Lyon with their back line, and against a stronger opponent a weak defence would be ripped apart with ease, as Liverpool showed against Barca’s rivals Read Madrid in the first stage. Bayern are just fresh from beating Sporting by 12 goals over 2 legs, it was pure free-flow football from the German side and they are now full of confidence and really have nothing to lose against Barca who are considered one of two favourites to pick up the title, it should be an interesting clash.
