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A pulsating matchday six of Champions League football culminated last week as Europe’s finest entered the knockout stages. While several of the big teams had already wrapped up their places in matchday five, teams like Liverpool, Tottenham, and Olympique Lyonnais had to dig deep in order to keep their hopes alive in the competition.
The round of 16 draw took place on Monday at Nyon in Switzerland and resulted in some mammoth headlines including Klopp's reunion against former rivals Bayern Munich, Mourinho's Manchester United facing free-scoring PSG and Tottenham getting this season's dark horses Borussia Dortmund. Here we look at the winners, losers and major talking points of the concluded draw.
Winners
Manchester City
Manchester City have been handed the most straightforward tie in the round of 16, against Schalke 04. Though the German side has shown great promise in the Champions League this season, their performances in the Bundesliga have been severely underwhelming.
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Pep Guardiola's men rounded off their group with a well-fought comeback victory against Hoffenheim. Leroy Sané came on his own on the night to score a brace which included a magnificent 30-yard free-kick. The high-flying winger will surely be looking forward to the Round of 16 tie with his tail up as he faces his former team. He surely did not have the easiest of times home and away to Hoffenheim.
As for Schalke, their home fixture against Lokomotiv Moscow was a dead rubber as they had already qualified for the next stage as Group D runners-up. Round of 16 fixture against the Premier League Champions was surely not on their wish-list for Christmas. Although, for Pep and his boys, it is an early present.
Messi and Barcelona
Barcelona topped the Group of Death with 14 points leaving Inter and Tottenham to scrap for the second place. Star-man Leo Messi yet again lit up the group stages with some sublime finishes and free-kicks. With six goals already, he is second on the Champions League goal-scoring charts, only behind Robert Lewandowski. A round of 16 fixture against Lyon is not child's play, however, the Catalan giants are more than capable of nullifying any threat the French side pose.
Lyon have been one of the surprise packages of the group stages producing some high-quality football which contained excellent displays against Manchester City. With talents such as Depay, Fekir, and Ndombele in their ranks, Bruno Génésio's side has all it takes to challenge this stop-start Barcelona team.
Losers
Jose Mourinho
After their scrappy, and at times almost half-hearted run in the group stages this season, Manchester United qualified for the knockout stages owing to that massive Fellaini winner at Turin. Although they lost their final game away to Valencia, Mourinho's men were all but qualified for the latter stages.
Truth be told, United have been absolutely abysmal in the Premier League this season and tabloids every week are speculating the probable sacking of manager José Mourinho. Much of Manchester United's lack-luster performances come down to the manager's tactics and formations. On top of that, his reported beef with star midfielder Paul Pogba has surely not gone down well among the Old Trafford faithful.
Amidst this crisis, a round of 16 tie against Paris Saint Germain proves to be almost cataclysmic for Mourinho. After last night’s 3-1 demolition at Anfield, it is almost impossible to see his team hatching a successful plan for Europe’s most illustrious front-three of Neymar, Mbappé, and Cavani. PSG showed their character by finishing first in one of the toughest groups including Liverpool and Napoli. If Manchester United continue with their poor form, Les Parisiens will be licking their lips come February.
Klopp and Liverpool
The Reds have not had their most vintage group-stage runs of all time. Their survival in the competition went down till Matchweek 6 with a certain Egyptian named Mohammed Salah yet again proving to be match-winner against a determined Napoli side. After an exhausting group stage with two European powerhouses, Jürgen Klopp faces an old nemesis in the form of Bayern Munich.
The former Dortmund coach has a rather substandard record against the German champions with 16 losses. Fresh in his memory will be the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Arjen Robben in the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley.
Liverpool are the only unbeaten team in the Premier League and are slowly proving to be favorites to lift their much-awaited 19th title in May. The Bayern tie will prove to be a menace in their hunt for Premier League glory in February. The German giants have had a rocky domestic campaign under new manager Niko Kovač. They are 9 points behind their resurgent arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund. However, their Champions League run so far has been nothing short of a cakewalk with only Ajax proving to be a real threat.
Juventus
Juventus have, in recent years, have been stalwart in the Champions League making two finals in the last four seasons. However, a certain ingredient was still said to be missing. Cristiano Ronaldo's stunning transfer in the summer proved to be a match made in heaven with the Portuguese forward already racking up several important goals in black-and-white.
Allegri's men did not have the strongest finish to their group stage campaign with losses to Manchester United at home and Young Boys away in the last two games. Their performances in the match-weeks prior to that proved enough to qualify as group winners. However, the draw against Atlético proves to be a major hindrance in Juventus' road to the final in Madrid. Simeone's teams relish fixtures against the big teams and often turn them into positive results. Ronaldo's record against his old rivals might prove to be hefty, but Juventus are in for a major task still early in the competition.
It will not be an understatement to say that both Juventus and Atlético Madrid boast one of the strongest defenses in Europe. This will surely be a heavy-metal match-up with the likes of Chiellini and Godin going shoulder-to-shoulder and Griezmann and Dybala going toe-to-toe.
Rest of the Draw
Rest of the round of 16 draw is filled with some tasty encounters. Ajax face Real Madrid in what can prove to be a tricky game for the Los Blancos. The Dutch side has been lethal in the Eredivisie this season and their young superstars Frenkie De Jong and Matthijs De Ligt.
Porto and Roma go head-to-head in an evenly-matched tie and Tottenham play current Bundesliga runaway leaders Borussia Dortmund. Pochettino's men reveled in their do-or-die encounter with Barcelona at the Nou Camp with Lucas Moura turning hero with his group-deciding equalizer. Dortmund, on the other hand, are absolutely flying both domestically and in the Champions League this season. Not a single team was looking forward to the task of facing the runaway Bundesliga leaders this season.
The first legs will be played on February 13-14 and 20-21 whilst the return legs will be played on March 6-7 and 13-14.
