Champions League Last 16 Draw: Rating the 8 Ties

"The Italian Job" was the predictable headline used in several English media outlets after Arsenal and Chelsea drew Milan and Napoli, respectively, in the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Those two ties are certainly the most eye-catching of the eight two-legged meetings, each of which have a place in the quarterfinals at stake.

Here's a rundown of the eight ties to be played Feb. 14-15 and 21-22, with the return legs on March 6-7 and 13-14.

Olympique Lyonnais vs. APOEL Nicosia

APOEL have already exceeded expectations—not just by reaching the knockout phase, but doing so as winners of Group G. In the process, they saw Champions League mainstays Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk eliminated.

They are the first ever Cypriot side to make the last 16, and as such, they represent one of nine different countries with teams left in the competition.

French giants Lyon are not at the same level as they were when they won seven straight Ligue 1 titles in the last decade, or even when they reached the semifinals in 2009-10. Les Gones only finished second on the final matchday courtesy of a 7-1 win at Dinamo Zagreb, which saw them qualify ahead of Ajax.

Lyon are still convincing favourites with the bookies, but they must beware; as the unseeded team, they play at home first, and APOEL were undefeated on the road in their group.

Napoli vs. Chelsea

Facing an English club will not hold that much fear for Champions League debutants Napoli. After all, they took four points off Premier League leaders Manchester City in the so-called "Group of Death" as runners-up.

Their clinical counter-attacking style—spearheaded by Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani—saw them finish second in Group A, only losing once, 3-2 at Bayern Munich.

Chelsea are seasoned pros when it comes to reaching the latter stages of the Champions League. They have never failed to qualify from their group. 

They may have made hard work of it this year, but they ended up topping their group with a convincing 3-0 win over Valencia. Only Real Madrid conceded fewer goals in their six group games than the Blues.

Between Chelsea finally beginning to click under Andre Villas-Boas's management and playing the second leg at home, they go into the tie as slight favourites. But, Napoli have only lost once at the Stadio San Paolo this season.

If they can hold Chelsea to a draw in Naples, they will set up what would promise to be a thrilling second leg in London.

Milan vs. Arsenal

The second part of the aforementioned "Italian Job," this is a rematch of the 2008 clash between these two sides at the same stage of the competition.

On that occasion, Arsenal came through after winning the second leg 2-0 at the San Siro thanks to goals in the last 10 minutes from Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor.

With both those players now gone, Robin van Persie has replaced them as both the club's captain and their main striker. So, much of the Gunners' hope of reaching the last eight rest upon his shoulders.

For Italian champions Milan, their main man is the divisive figure Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swedish striker is often criticised in the English for his lacklustre displays against English sides—for example, against Tottenham Hotspur at the same stage last season.

However, the last time Ibrahimovic lined up against the Gunners, he scored two goals for Barcelona.

Neither of these sides made it past the first knockout round last season. Picking which one will progress this time around is too close to call, but it's going to be a lot of fun finding out. 

FC Basel vs. Bayern Munich

When legendary ex-Bayern Munich player Paul Breitner paired his former club against Swiss side Basel, he joked that he would not have to spend four weeks in Siberia hiding as he might have done if he had picked a tough draw for the German giants.

It is certainly true that things could have been tougher for the four-time European champions. Not only are Basel one of the more unfancied sides left in the competition, but Bayern could have hardly asked for a shorter trip than just across the border to Switzerland for the first leg.

However, Basel have already done for one European giant this season, drawing 3-3 with Manchester United at Old Trafford before beating them 2-1 at home in order to go through and knock the Red Devils into the Europa League.

Few will be betting on an upset in this tie, but it will at least give another good opportunity to showcase young talents such as Xherdan Shaqiri and Fabian Frei.

Bayer Leverkusen vs. Barcelona

Bayer Leverkusen, finalists in 2002, drew the short straw this time by finding their name next to the defending champions.

Last season's Bundesliga runners-up have struggled to maintain that domestic form this season, but they deserve their place in the knockout phase.

As for Barca, they hardly need anyone to talk them up, but suffice to say, they have won the competition three times in the last five years. 

They are the tournament's highest scorers thus far, notching an incredible 20 goals. Six of those were from joint-top-scorer Lionel Messi, who is looking to finish the tournament with the most goals for the fourth season running.

Not many teams would be able to cope with the loss of a player of the calibre of David Villa as well as Barca should be able to.

Leverkusen are no mugs, but for them to eliminate Barca would go down as one of the major shocks in the competition's history.  

CSKA Moscow vs. Real Madrid

Barca may be the favourites to lift the trophy in Munich, but their bitter rivals, Real Madrid, are not far behind them. 

While the defending champions may have scored 20 goals in their group, Real have scored 19. However, while Barca only won five of their group games, drawing 2-2 with Milan on the opening matchday, Real won all six of their matches. And they did so with a stingy defensive record of just two goals conceded.

Last season's "Clasico" semifinal was almost a de facto final, and so it would prove again this season if their paths were to cross before the showpiece at the Allianz Arena.

CSKA secured their place in the draw on the final matchday with a 2-1 win at group winners Internazionale. Group B was the only one to see both clubs that progressed after losing more than one match each.

They will be hoping to make the most of home advantage in the first leg, with the trip from the Iberian peninsula to the Russian capital one of the longest possible in this season's last 16. However, they will then have to make the same journey in reverse for the second leg.

If they are not careful, the tie could be all but over by the time they arrive at the Bernabeu.

Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Benfica

Zenit finished second in their group after scoring only seven goals across their six games. Only APOEL scored fewer—six—and still qualified for the latter stages. Funnily enough, they did so as winners of Zenit's group, so make of that what you will.

The current Russian champions also only won two of their group games, which is hardly the sort of form you want to take into the knockout phase of Europe's biggest club competition.

Additionally, they will play the first leg before their domestic campaign resumes after the winter break. This is the last season this will happen before the Russian league move dates to fall more in line with the rest of Europe.

Benfica, meanwhile, are very much the team on form. The current joint-leaders of the Portuguese league are one of only three clubs on Europe's major leagues to still be unbeaten, along with compatriots Porto and Juventus in Serie A.

The Lisbon side topped Group C, in which their two draws with Manchester United contributed to the Premier League champions finishing third.

The two-time European champions will be slight favourites for this tie, but the longest possible journey they could have been handed may count against them.  

Marseille vs. Internazionale

Marseille booked their place in the last 16 in highly dramatic fashion, as Mathieu Valbuena's stunning solo strike completed a fight back from two goals down to seal victory in Dortmund.

Their reward for progressing from Group F behind group winners Arsenal is a tie against the 2010 champions Inter.

The only other time these sides have met in European competition, OM prevailed in their UEFA Cup tie by winning both legs 1-0.

Under normal circumstances, the Italian side would be favourites, but the Nerazzurri are still struggling in the mire they were left in after Gian Piero Gasperini's disastrous five-match reign at the start of the season.

Claudio Ranieri managed to guide Inter to the group after their disastrous opening-matchday defeat at home to Trabzonspor, and slowly but surely drag them into the top half of the Serie A table. However, they are far from the finished article. 

They have a couple of months in which to fully complete their resurgence, but if they are still struggling when Marseille visit the San Siro at the end of February, then the French side are well equipped to take advantage.