UEFA Champions League: The Matchups We Want to See in the Round of 16

Group play for this year's UEFA Champions League has ended and there were quite a few surprises as the remaining 32 teams battled for only 16 spots.

Both Manchester sides were eliminated in the last game, with Manchester United losing to FC Basel of Switzerland and Manchester City was denied entry to the knockout round due to Napoli's defeat over Villareal.

The draw for the knockout round will occur on December 16th, but the problem with random draws is that they're, well, random. Undoubtedly, we'll be looking at the pairings and half of them will be completely unbalanced in terms of talent and roster depth.

Remember last year's knockout round and the snooze-fest that was Shakhtar Donetsk against Roma? Or how about Schalke 04 against Valencia? How could we forget Chelsea "battling" Copenhagen?

I want eight games that come down to the wire. I want eight games of a rock meeting a hard place and 90 minutes of strong football on the pitch.

It won't happen this way, and you may disagree with my pairings, but I give to you the eight games we'd love to see in knockout round of this year's Champions League.

Real Madrid vs. Napoli

Real Madrid is the cream of the crop in this year's Champions League. They coasted through Group D, winning all six of their matches (which isn't hard when the second-best team in your group is Lyon). Thanks to a roster that is as deep as anyone's in Europe, Real Madrid scored 19 goals in the group stage, the best of any club.

Why not match up the strongest group winner in the tournament with Napoli—the strongest runner-up?

The knockout round is the farthest Napoli have ever gotten in Champions League play. It will be a boost for the Italian club and its fans to host Real Madrid for the first time in its 85-year history. I also think that Napoli's wide-open style of play would make for the most entertaining game in the knockout round. They'd have nothing to lose and would have a chance to show that their defeat over Manchester City wasn't a fluke.

Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen

Barcelona was right behind their Spanish brothers Real Madrid in terms of dominating opponents in group play. They earned five wins and drew only once—to Milan.

Milan scored two goals, one in the first minute and one in the last, to earn a 2-2 draw with Barcelona. The Spanish champions showed that day that their team is marked by weakness in the first few minutes of the game and in the last few minutes.

If there's a team that starts fast and ends fast, it's Bayer Leverkusen. The Germans scored three goals in the last minute of matches during group play. They can take advantage of the chink that Milan found in Barcelona's armor and make this game incredibly interesting.

Arsenal vs. Basel

FC Basel 1893 cemented their place as giant-killers, knocking off Manchester United in the last match of group play. Basel played the English champions twice and didn't lose either time—drawing at Old Trafford and then winning at home.

Wouldn't it be something to see the Swiss underdogs knock off not one, but two English champions?

If Basel, the runners-up in Group C, were drawn with Arsenal, the winners of Group F, it could happen. Arsenal has shown a drop-off in form as of late—especially in the Premiership—and is vulnerable to the kind of wide-open attack that Basel brings.

APOEL vs. Milan

APOEL is the first club from the island of Cyprus to make it to the knockout round of the Champions League, and they did it in convincing fashion—winning Group G through patience (and a little bit of luck).

I'd love to see how the perseverance of a defensive-minded club like APOEL would match up with a quick-scoring squad like AC Milan, who would have won their group if they hadn't been matched up with Barcelona.

The geographic rivalry would be too much to pass up. Cyprus has played the role of little brother to Italy for too long and APOEL would work as hard as they could to play the role of spoiler.

Benfica vs. Marseille

Benfica hasn't reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League since 2006 and it's a lucky thing the Portugese club clinched Group C; the road through the knockout round runs through some talented clubs.

I would love to see Oscar Cardozo, who leads Benfica with three goals, go up against a tough defense.

Why not Olympique de Marseille? The French champions gave up only four goals in the group stage and goalkeeper Steve Mandanda is arguably the best player on their squad—and one of the most experienced, having played on France's national team in the Euro 2008 finals and the 2010 World Cup.

Chelsea vs. CSKA Moscow

I want to see CSKA Moscow match up against Chelsea because I want to see how Sedyou Doumbia—who has been linked to moving to several English teams—performs against his future opponents.

CSKA Moscow also scored nine goals, the most of any team in the defensive-minded Group B. Chelsea only allowed four, the least in Group E that scored more goals than any other group.

Bayern Munich vs. Lyon

Bayern Munich showed weakness against Manchester City and its wide-open, attack-early-and-often tactics. If there's any team that learned it could score as of late, it's French champions Lyon.

Granted, Lyon scored seven goals against a ten-man Dinamo Zagreb, but it's still seven goals against one of the best teams in Europe.

Inter Milan vs. Zenit St. Petersburg

Inter Milan has been a strong club for a lot of years and on the surface, if one looks at the results, nothing much has changed. The Italian champions won Group B and the road to the quarterfinals runs through one of the runners-up. But Inter has been underachieving in Champions League play so far this season, not able to earn victories over inferior opponents like Trabzonspor from Turkey. 

Zenit St. Petersburg may not look like much on paper, but they didn't win the Russian Premier League title last year for nothing. The Russian club had an impressive campaign in group play that saw them earn nine points, losing only once to group winners APOEL.

This is the case of Inter underachieving, Zenit St. Petersburg overachieving and both teams meeting somewhere in the middle. If Inter is dealt a team like Zenit St. Petersburg, the Italians could be looking at AC Milan as their only source of pride.