The Champions League group stages have finished, and now it’s time to see which teams will face each other in the round of 16 which is coming up next. UEFA will be drawing the match-ups for the Champions League and the Europa League on December 17th, and there’s a set of guidelines which the round of 16 matches will have to comply with. Here’s the guidelines below:

• Winners and runner-ups of the groups will be drawn against each other.

• The runner-up team will play the first leg at home.

• No two teams from the same association can be drawn against each other, ex. Manchester United – Arsenal cannot be drawn because both sides are from the Premier League.

• No two teams from the same group can be drawn against each other, ex. Tottenham – Inter Milan cannot be drawn because they were in the same group.

With these guidelines, I’ve put together the matches that I want to see in the round of 16. I tried to think about match-ups which will be exciting, even, and hopefully full of goals. Here they are below:

Tottenham Hotspur – Valencia

Schalke 04 – FC Copenhagen

Manchester United – Marseille

Barcelona – Roma

Bayern Munich – Inter Milan

Chelsea – AC Milan

Real Madrid – Arsenal

Shakhtar Donetsk – Lyon

What do you think about my choices? I decided to put Bayern Munich against Inter Milan, because I think it would be exciting to see Bayern take revenge for last season’s final which they lost. I also decided to put Arsenal against Real Madrid because Arsene Wenger’s side tries to replicate Barcelona’s beautiful passing and attacking style, could they do it against Real Madrid? Tottenham against Valencia seems like an extremely exciting match-up to me, because both sides love to play an attacking and free-flowing style, and I don’t think I can predict a winner between those two. And I put Chelsea against AC Milan because of Carlo Ancelotti facing his former side, along with the possibility of seeing an Ibrahimovic-led AC Milan side try and break down Chelsea.

Make sure to share your thoughts on what match-ups you want to see in the round of 16 by commenting below! What could be the most exciting match in the next round? Comment below!

Just a reminder that the draw for the next round of the 2008-09 Champions League takes place this Friday

There are plenty of familiar names in the draw as ten of the sides that reached this stage last season are still in the running. The new faces are Panathinaikos FC, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Club Atlético de Madrid, Villarreal CF, FC Bayern München and Juventus though both Bayern and Juve are well-experienced in this competition.

The draw conditions are as follows:

1. Clubs from the same association must not be drawn against each other.
2. The winners and runners-up of the same group must not be drawn against each other.
3. Group winners must not be drawn against each other.
4. Group runners-up must not be drawn against each other.
5. Group runners-up shall play their first-leg match at home.

Just to recap the group stage, here are the winners and runners-up.

While England again leads the way with four clubs (tied this season by Spain), I don’t feel that the English clubs are playing with the same form as last season. All have had ups and downs in their domestic form and have been dropping points against clubs that they should be defeating. Arsenal are looking the unsteadiest of the bunch though none of the others have impressed in recent weeks. Liverpool has had some great chances to surge ahead in the title race but have dropped points at home to Hull City and West Ham.

Conversely, Barcelona have to be looked at as one of the favourites based on their experience and recent form. They looked good in defeating Real Madrid in El Classico this past weekend and are now unbeaten in 14 league games. Their only loss in the Champions League group phase was in their final match when they fielded a team filled with reserve/bench players.

I also see Juventus, Bayern Munich and FC Porto as clubs to watch for in the next round. However, I will be back on Friday with predictions and commentary once the draw is complete.