Champions League Draw 2014: Fixtures, Predictions for Round-of-16 Bracket
The draw for the round of 16 of the 2014-15 Champions League has been made, and it serves up a number of tasty fixtures and several rematches that will have fans all over the globe salivating.
The clashes between Manchester City and Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea will undoubtedly steal the headlines, but all eight matches present intriguing fixtures with plenty of upset potential.
Here's the full schedule for the Round of 16, complete with predictions.
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| Tuesday, Feb. 17 | PSG | Chelsea | Chelsea Advance |
| Tuesday, Feb. 17 | Shakhtar | Bayern | Bayern Advance |
| Wednesday, Feb. 18 | Schalke | Real | Real Advance |
| Wednesday, Feb. 18 | Basel | Porto | Basel Advance |
| Tuesday, Feb. 24 | Manchester City | Barcelona | Barcelona Advance |
| Tuesday, Feb. 24 | Juventus | Dortmund | Juventus Advance |
| Wednesday, Feb. 25 | Leverkusen | Atletico | Atletico Advance |
| Wednesday, Feb. 25 | Arsenal | Monaco | Arsenal Advance |
| Tuesday, Mar. 10 | Real | Schalke | Real Advance |
| Tuesday, Mar. 10 | Porto | Basel | Basel Advance |
| Wednesday, Mar 11 | Chelsea | PSG | Chelsea Advance |
| Wednesday, Mar 11 | Bayern | Shakhtar | Bayern Advance |
| Tuesday, Mar. 17 | Atletico | Leverkusen | Atletico Advance |
| Tuesday, Mar. 17 | Monaco | Arsenal | Arsenal Advance |
| Wednesday, Mar. 18 | Barcelona | Manchester City | Barcelona Advance |
| Wednesday, Mar. 18 | Dortmund | Juventus | Juventus Advance |
The Year of the Second Seed?
Traditionally, the round of 16 belongs to the top seeds, and it's not uncommon to see at least six of the first knockout ties play out in favour of the clubs who won their groups. This year, however, things could be different.
Arsenal will be favoured over Monaco, who took advantage of a fairly weak group and jumped to the top spot on the final matchday. Juventus will like their chances against a struggling Borussia Dortmund side, and the same goes for FC Basel, who will go up against a Porto team that hardly convinced in the group stages.
Barcelona's start to the 2014-15 campaign has been far from perfect, and while Chelsea have to be favourites against PSG based on current form, the French champions have the talent to avenge last year's exit.
Les Parisiens are looking forward to the tie:
According to Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson, PSG's schedule looks favourable compared to last year:
It's possible the top seeds will simply take care of business, but there appear to be numerous opportunities for the underdogs to spring upsets. Don't be surprised if half of the top seeds are knocked out at the first hurdle when all is said and done.
Can Juventus Overcome Their European Demons?
The history of Juventus is littered with disappointment on the international stage, and the past several years have been no exception. Since a successful return to the Champions League in the 2012-13 campaign, it's been downhill for the Old Lady.
A draw against Borussia Dortmund looks tricky on the surface, but Gianluigi Buffon told Sky Italia that Die Schwarzgelben were one of the teams the club were hoping to draw, via Football Italia:
"I’m happy, in the sense that they were one of the teams we were hoping to meet.
"
Not because they’re a team which is inferior to the others, but because it represents a test to see how far we can go and where we can improve.
(...) It [the draw] could have been better, but it could also have been a lot worse.
The story around Dortmund is that they're enduring a horrid Bundesliga campaign, while their success on the European stage continues. Their last two outings in the Champions League weren't exactly impressive, however, as they were soundly beaten by Arsenal before drawing at home against Anderlecht.
Dortmund had already secured qualification at that point, but with their struggles in the Bundesliga continuing, it's difficult to gauge which team Juventus will be facing: the in-form whirlwind or the underperforming club from the past few months?
But given their past European struggles, Juventus can afford to sit back and let Dortmund assume the mantle of favourites. The Italians are very good at taking away the counter-attack and have the physicality in the centre of the pitch to turn this tie into the kind of ugly battle the Germans dread.
Barcelona are not AS Roma
As soon as the draw pitted Manchester City and Barcelona against each other, fans of the Citizens were forced to remember last year's exit at the hands of the Blaugrana.
Moments later, pundits remembered there was reason for optimism. This is not the same City team but a more mature and more experienced group who can take advantage of the fact that the Catalans are still looking for a way to incorporate Luis Suarez into the squad.
NBC Sports Soccer thinks so:
Let's back up. Until Bayern Munich basically gifted City a 3-2 win by virtue of a penalty and two enormous defensive blunders, we were all making fun of the Premier League champions' dreadful showing in Europe once again.
They followed up that performance by beating an inexperienced Roma squad 2-0, being thoroughly outplayed in the first half. Full credit to Manuel Pellegrini and his men for going into the Olimpico and winning, but if that's your reason for optimism, you could be in for a rude surprise.
Sergio Aguero is still injured and won't hit his top from of the past month by the time these teams meet. In contrast, Suarez has two more months to grow comfortable with his new club. Do the Citizens have a chance to advance to the next round? Absolutely. Are their odds that much better than last year? Think again.
