Champions League: Predicting the Last 8

Just when the nonsense of "silly season" and various other talking points were beginning to make the 2015 club football campaign borderline intolerable, along comes the resumption of Champions League play. 

The December 2014 draw was cruel and unusual to some—Group D winners Borussia Dortmund drew Italian giants Juventus, while Group D runner-up Arsenal were paired with comparatively weak AS Monaco (surprise Group C winners).

And it's rather serendipitous for others—unblemished Group B winners Real Madrid should feast on Schalke, while their Madrid arch-rivals Atletico (Group A winners) will likely plunder Bayer Leverkusen.

Let's delve deeper into all eight ties and venture an educated guess at the aggregate results.

Bayern Munich vs. Shakhtar Donetsk

Group H runners-up Shakthar looked like world-beaters in two matches against Belarusian minnows BATE Borisov, amassing 12 goals and matching clean sheets. Striker Luiz Adriano went for five in a 7-0 mauling of BATE at the Borisov Arena and added a hat-trick at the Donbass Arena. The Hirnyky looked awfully pedestrian in their other four group matches, drawing three times and losing once.

The Ukrainian outfit drew German juggernauts Bayern Munich for their trouble. Die Roten are on the verge of running away with the Bundesliga and virtually coasted to the Group E top spot with their only blemish a 3-2 loss to Manchester City at the Etihad.

The 2013 Champions League winners are coming in as prohibitive 5-2 favorites to lift the cup for a sixth time on most sportsbooks monitored by Oddschecker. Conversely, Shakthar are widely considered the long shot to win it all by those same bookies (anywhere from 150-1 to 500-1).

While The Miners have 10 Brazilians among their first-team ranks—including the prolific Luiz Adriano as well as Douglas Costa and Alex Teixeira—the Ukrainian Premier League has been on winter break since December 12, 2014.

Bayern's roster is rife with some of world football's best, including Arjen Robben (14 goals all competitions, as per Goal.com), Robert Lewandowski (10 goals all competitions), Thomas Muller (11 goals all competitions) and Mario Gotze (11 goals all competitions). They're also getting Franck Ribery back from injury and have World Cup 2014 Golden Glove winner Manuel Neuer tending the sticks.

The Reds should have a field day in this tie.

Aggregate Prediction: Bayern Munich 6, Shakthar Donetsk 2

Chelsea vs. Paris Saint-Germain

While this is still an enticing matchup, PSG have dipped in form since last year's meeting between the same two teams in the quarter-finals. Chelsea have done nothing but trend up since last year's 3-3 thriller aggregate tie that saw the Blues go through on an 87th-minute Demba Ba strike at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea have added Cesc Fabregas, Diego Costa and Juan Cuadrado this year to go along with the likes of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Branislav Ivanovic. The Blues are generally considered 7-1 tournament favorites by Oddschecker.

Les Parisiens still have the one and only Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Edinson Cavani (16 goals all competitions), Lucas Moura (eight goals all competitions) along with the emerging talents of Blaise Matuidi and Marco Verratti. Zlatan has 16 goals in all competitions this campaign, but his form has languished in 2015, and PSG in turn currently find themselves behind both Marseille and Lyon in the Ligue 1 table.

Chelsea may no longer be perfect on the season, but they still have the firepower to thoroughly dispatch PSG in this matchup. Les Parisiens' overall spike in form of late will not save their blushes here.

Aggregate Prediction: Chelsea 5, PSG 2

Real Madrid vs. Schalke 04

Much ado has been made about Cristiano Ronaldo's revelry after Los Meringues' recent 4-0 loss to rival Atletico. The reigning Champions League holders also lead La Liga by a slim margin (54 points) over Barcelona (53 points) and Atletico (50 points). The Madridistas are predominantly 11-4 favorites to repeat the feat this year, as per Oddschecker.

Schalke will provide little obstacle to Real's quest for the Undecima. Outisde of Maxim Choupo-Moting (10 goals in all competitions) and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (10 goals all competitions), the Gelsenkirchen outfit struggle for goals and currently trail Bayern Munich by 15 points in the Bundesliga. 

Los Blancos have been riddled by injuries of late (James Rodriguez, Luka Modric and Sergio Ramos), but with CR7 (38 goals, 10 assists all competitions), Karim Benzema (16 goals all competitions) and Gareth Bale (14 goals, 7 assists) marauding in the attacking third, Schalke will be on the back foot for most of the 180 minutes of this tie.

Aggregate Prediction: Real Madrid 7, Schalke 04 1

FC Basel vs. FC Porto

One of the real quirks of this year's draw pits these two relatively modest sides against each other. The 17-time Swiss Super League champs have won their league five years running and nine times in the last 11. While Basel is making just their second last-16 appearance, they have already scalped Liverpool and famously knocked Manchester United out of the tournament in 2011-12 group play.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Basel have experience in captain Marco Streller (six goals), the breakout play of Shkelzen Gashi (12 goals) as well as the precocious Breel Embolo (17 years old, five goals). Porto counter with the likes of Colombian sniper Jackson Martinez (16 goals) and Algerian World Cup starlet Yacine Brahimi.

This is the most unpredictable tie of this round and could come down to the away-goals rule. Porto should nip this one but don't count the plucky Swiss out.

Aggregate Prediction: FC Porto 3, FC Basel 3, Porto advance on away goals

Manchester City vs. Barcelona

In the other heavyweight match of this round, reigning EPL champs Manchester City look to improve upon their traditionally poor European track record against four-time winners of the competition, Barcelona.

While the Blaugrana have played second fiddle to the two Madrid-based teams the last two seasons, Los Cules are once again in the ascendancy bolstered by the play of Lionel Messi (34 goals, 17 assists), Neymar (23 goals), Luis Suarez (six goals, 12 assists in limited action) and Pedro (10 goals).

Throw in midfield maestro Ivan Rakitic, vintage Andres Iniesta and a back line patrolled by Gerard Pique, Dani Alves and Jordi Alba and it's easy to see why Barca are among the favorites (along with Chelsea, Bayern and Real Madrid) to win the trophy.

City looked to be back in the hunt for the EPL this season at the close of 2014 but now trail Chelsea by seven points.

The Citizens are not lacking for star power or scoring punch with Sergio Aguero (19 goals), Yaya Toure (nine goals) and a victory-lapping Frank Lampard (seven goals), but they have looked vulnerable at the back at times this season, despite the presence of Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta and Martin Demichelis.

Could be trickier for Barca than many of the punters may believe, but City simply don't have enough quality to get the nod here.

Aggregate Prediction Barcelona 5, Manchester City 3

Juventus vs. Borussia Dortmund

In what has been a most dreadful season for recent back-to-back Bundesliga champs Dortmund, the Champions League has been an oasis in the Mojave. Der BVB all but bossed Group D, save for a 2-0 slip to Arsenal at the Emirates.

The Dortmunders finally pulled themselves out of the relegation zone recently but hover just two points above 16th-placed Paderborn at 22 points—BVB finished second in the league to Bayern last season. Goalpost.tv provided odds on Juventus vs. Dortmund:

The Bianconeri appear poised to take the Serie A title for a fourth year on the trot behind the resurgence of Carlos Tevez (19 goals, 7 assists) and Paul Pogba (8 goals). The Old Lady does have some questions at the back with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon getting on in years (37).

Dortmund have been dwindled by the transfers of Robert Lewandowski and Mario Gotze (among others) in recent years but still have some striking quality in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (10 goals) and Ciro Immobile (seven goals) as well as the ever-present talent of a now-healthy Marco Reus.

It's another one that is hard to call, but Juventus have just the edge in overall quality.

Aggregate Prediction: Juventus 4, Borussia Dortmund 3

Atletico Madrid vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Simply put, this is a mismatch. Atleti are still chuffed after their recent 4-nil dispatch of Real Madrid and are getting quality play upfront from Mario Mandzukic (18 goals) and Antoine Greizmann (10 goals). While they lost Diego Costa to the summer-transfer window and lack the star power of their La Liga foes, Los Rojiblancos are capable of making another deep run in the tournament.

Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Leverkusen will be thoroughly outclassed in this tie, but they do have some quality in Son Heung-min (11 goals), Stefan Kiessling (11 goals) and Karim Bellarabi (six goals, seven assists).

Aggregate Prediction: Atletico Madrid 6, Leverkusen 1

Arsenal vs. AS Monaco

Arsenal fans were ready to set Arsene Wenger adrift after an early November collapse to Anderlecht when leading the Belgian side 3-0 (the match ended 3-3). But the Gunners responded with the aforementioned win over Dortmund, and despite their struggles in the EPL this season (currently fifth), they should be able to put Monaco to the sword here.

Dimitar Berbatov (seven goals) is Monaco's primary scoring threat, but they also have experience in Joao Moutinho, Jeremy Toulalan and Ricardo Carvalho.

Even if Alexis Sanchez (18 goals) is not 100 percent fit, the Gunners will see their French counterparts off. Now if only someone would put a muzzle on Piers Morgan's Twitter idiocy, Arsenal would be free of bad karma.

Aggregate Prediction: Arsenal 5, AS Monaco 2

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