Drawing on the best of Europe

The UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw will take place this evening in Nyon, Switzerland, and we will be able to catch the live telecast on Astro SuperSports (Channel 810, HD 831) at 7pm.

With the dust settled through the turmoil of the Group stages, which ended last Tuesday and Wednesday, the Champions League knockout stages promise to excite as all but one major team (Juventus) successfully navigated their respective groups.

At this moment, Manchester United (MU) seem the most vulnerable of the eight group winners, solely based on their distinctly average league form this season.

Borussia Dortmund, another team currently on an extended run of exceptionally poor results can point to an ever-growing injury list as a legitimate reason behind their struggles – Nuri Sahin and Sven Bender joining Ilkay Gundogan, Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer on the sidelines.

The remaining six group winners have few excuses not to progress to the quarter-final stage. The two obstacles? Arsenal and Manchester City.

For MU, getting through the group stages with minimal fuss (playing style and quality notwithstanding), David Moyes has led his boys past the often tricky group stage with visits to the Ukraine, Spain and a thumping performance against group runners-up Bayer Leverkusen.

With English teams not facing each other in the round of 16, there is truly little that should worry Moyes in the next round of competition. Among which are Turkish giants Galatasaray, who knocked out Juventus in hellish conditions (not to mention the horrific weather), thanks to a Wesley Sneijder strike; and Greek champions

Olympiakos, who defeated Anderlecht despite missing two penalties and finishing the game against eight men.

Also Russia's Zenit St Petersburg had been consistently poor, making the knockout stage, despite having only collected six points from a group consisting of Austria Vienna, FC Porto and the high-flying Atletico Madrid.

Putting this into perspective, Napoli failed to advance from their group despite collecting 12 points.

None of these teams should cause the group winners much trouble, and you can certainly put your money on Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, MU and Paris St Germain (PSG) qualifying for the quarter-final stage if they get drawn against these weaker group runners-up.

Among the other runners-up, perhaps Schalke 04 could put up more resistance this time, still smarting from that 6-1 aggregate demolition at the hands of Manchester United in the semi-finals in 2010-2011.

Julian Draxler and Kevin-Prince Boateng will be looking to pull the strings, with Schalke welcoming the return of ace striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar from a long-term knee injury. Schalke are currently sixth in the Bundesliga, seven points off the Champions League places.

It would be interesting to see how manager Jens Keller moves forward from here – chase Champions League glory or focus on qualifying for the Champions League next season? The results of the draw today could help determine his decision.

AC Milan, despite a pitifully mediocre start to the Serie A, are never a team to be trifled with – keeping a clean sheet with 10 men for 70 minutes against a desperate onslaught from Ajax Amsterdam was no easy task.

Coupled with smart tactical performances against Barcelona, and with the addition of Adil Rami at the back (he will be eligible to play in the Champions League, as his current club Valencia are participating in the Europa League) and Stephan El Shaarawy's return to full fitness, Milan cannot be counted out, especially with one Ricardo Kaka on song.

Consistently starting games for the club he loves, Kaka's style of play seems to have aged little despite what many critics insist.

You need only look at his performances against Barcelona this season, destroying Dani Alves for pace over both matches (and the critics remark he has lost a step or two!) and his stunning strike against Lazio in the Serie A to know that he is, at the very least, making Luiz Felipe Scolari consider his attacking midfield options for the coming World Cup.

So, much speculation has already been made on the potential match-ups for the round of 16 knockout stage.

Which is more tantalising: Real Madrid v Arsenal, or Barcelona v Manchester City? How about Atletico Madrid v Arsenal and PSG v Manchester City?

With Manchester United and Chelsea avoiding their fellow English teams in the round of 16 and teams from the same group avoiding each other in the draw today, that leaves six teams with the possibility of facing either Arsenal (their group winner Dortmund exempted) or Manchester City (Bayern Munich exempted).

But regardless of the match-ups, be prepared for some classic battles come February.

It is clear that MU rue the absence of Michael Carrick, and it is fair to say that his return will be much anticipated despite the lack of respect and appreciation shown to him and his ability over much of his MU career (it is truly remarkable how consistent performances can garner such inconsistent reaction from the "media noise").

I believe this recognition and appreciation has finally come with the realisation of how football is played in Europe and it has now dawned upon the English Premier League. 

Is it a coincidence that the quality of football in the Premier League has distinctly changed with a cultural acceptance of football being played on grass and not blue skies?

And hence, the cultured and calculated Carrick has come to the fore as the key to the progress of Manchester United to the final 16. – December 16, 2013.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.