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The draw for the Champs League last 16 is at 11.00 GMT (British time) tomorrow in Switzerland (live on Sky Sports News, or see the UEFA website).
We will be drawn against one of the 7 runners-up from the other groups:
Bayern Munich
Deportivo La Coruna
Real Sociedad
Stuttgart
Porto
Sparta Prague
Celta Vigo
The other 7 group winners are
Lyon
Monaco
Juventus
Milan
Real Madrid
Man Utd
Chelsea
The draw regulations state that teams from the same group will not be drawn against each other, and nor will teams from the same country (this is contrary to reports from earlier in the year).
The only country that has teams in both winners and runners-up pools is Spain. So the effect of the "different countries" rule is to make it very slightly more likely that we'll face a Spanish side. And given that 3 of those 7 runners-up are Spanish, and another was in the same group as Real Madrid, I reckon that makes it slightly more likely that we'll be going to Spain than not. But don't quote me, I can't be bothered to do the maths.
As group winners, we will play the first leg away (on 24th or 25th Feb) and the second leg at home (on 9th or 10th March).
According to PA Sport, all pairings are possible in the quarter-finals (so if we get through, we could face Chelsea, Man Utd, or even Lokomotiv again, if they get through)
Rupe adds... It's been pointed out by a few people now that although Ashley Cole's goal against Dynamo might be seen as the turning point in this year's campaign, if he hadn't scored it we'd still have topped the group (if one makes the big and unrealistic assumption that all the other results would have been the same). Check out the table, they're right. All 4 teams would have been on 8 points and, thanks to the result in Milan, our goal difference would have been best.
Another curiosity is the fact that if we'd drawn 0-0 last night and the other match had not been a draw too, we would have gone out despite having beaten each of the other 3 teams on the head-to-head! |