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Champions League: Champions League 2008-2009

Ozren Podnar

Cruel draw pairs English clubs with the toughest opposition

It will be Italy against England in the round of sixteen in the most prestigious club cup competition. All three Italian representatives have been drawn against English rivals, but only Arsenal can dare to lament poor luck.

Still, the absolute classic of the round will see an English club take on the familiar bunch of white shirts: Liverpool vs Real Madrid! Few clashes in the world are more illustrious than this one, since these are the teams that share no less than fourteen Champions Leagues (or Cups, as they used to be called) and five UEFA Cups.

While either Chelsea or Juventus, Liverpool or Real and Manchester United or Inter will bid farewell to this season's European ambitions, the quarterfinalists will feature Villarreal or Panathinaikos, two of the slightly lesser sides in the pool.

Elsewhere, Bayern are probably happy to have drawn Sporting of Lisbon, which they openly desired on the eve of the draw in Switzerland, and Barcelona cannot overly complain either for getting Lyon as their rival. The remaining tie between Atlético and Porto may produce some scintillating soccer, but probably not the future champions of Europe.

Round of sixteen

Chelsea vs. Juventus

The London side have a larger roster of superb players, but Juventus recently beat Real Madrid twice and Alex Del Piero is living his second youth.

Villarreal vs. Panathinaikos

The Greeks came out on top ahead in a group containing Inter and Werder, but Villarreal – last year's runner-up in Spain – look a bit more consistent.

Sporting vs. Bayern

A Sporting win would be an upset because Bayern's artillery is eager to start firing. The Bavarians usually do well against Portuguese teams.

Atlético vs. Porto

Latin derby of an incertain outcome. Expect plenty of spectacular plays and a bit of guile from both sides.

Lyon vs. Barcelona

Seven-times French champions has long been in the antechamber of European success, but they usually go down in March. Still, we believe Barca will have it harder than expected.

Real vs. Liverpool

Liverpool look favourites being a better composed team without much internal strife, but Real does best when the going gets toughest.

Arsenal vs. Roma

A very young Arsenal's team suffers both from inexperience and injuries. Roma should go through unless Wenger concocts something special.

Inter vs. Manchester Utd

Even though the roster qualities seem balanced, United's players have spent more time playing with each other and then there is that Red Devils' pride.

First leg February 24th/25th
Return leg March 10th/11th

All results of the group stage

Group A

1. round
Chelsea vs. Bordeaux 4-0
Roma vs. Cluj 1-2
2. round
Bordeaux vs. Roma 1-3
Cluj vs. Chelsea 0-0
3. round
Bordeaux vs. Cluj 1-0
Chelsea vs. Roma 1-0
4. round
Roma vs. Chelsea 3-1
Cluj vs. Bordeaux 1-2
5. round
Bordeaux vs. Chelsea 1-1
Cluj vs. Roma 1-3
6. round
Chelsea vs. Cluj 2-1
Roma vs. Bordeaux 2-0

Group B

1. round
Panathinaikos vs. Inter 0-2
Werder vs. Anorthosis 0-0
2. round
Anorthosis vs. Panathinaikos 3-1
Inter vs. Werder 1-1
3. round
Inter vs. Anorthosis 1-0
Panathinaikos vs. Werder 2-2
4. round
Werder vs. Panathinaikos 0-3
Anorthosis vs. Inter 3-3
5. round
Inter vs. Panathinaikos 0-1
Anorthosis vs. Werder 2-2
6. round
Panathinaikos vs. Anorthosis 1-0
Werder vs. Inter 2-1

Group C

1. round
Basel vs. Shakhtar 1-2
Barcelona vs. Sporting 3-1
2. round
Shakhtar vs. Barcelona 1-2
Sporting vs. Basel 2-0
3. round
Basel vs. Barcelona 0-5
Shakhtar vs. Sporting 1-1
4. round
Sporting vs. Shakhtar 1-0
Barcelona vs. Basel 1-1
5. round
Shakhtar vs. Basel 5-0
Sporting vs. Barcelona 2-5
6. round
Basel vs. Sporting 0-1
Barcelona vs. Shakhtar 2-3

Group D

1. round
PSV vs. Atlético 0-3
Marseille vs. Liverpool 1-2
2. round
Atlético vs. Marseille 2-1
Liverpool vs. PSV 3-1
3. round
Atlético vs. Liverpool 1-1
PSV vs. Marseille 2-0
4. round
Marseille vs. PSV 3-0
Liverpool vs. Atlético 1-1
5. round
Atlético vs. PSV 2-1
Liverpool vs. Marseille 1-0
6. round
PSV vs. Liverpool 1-3
Marseille vs. Atlético 0-0

Group E

1. round
Man.Utd. vs. Villarreal 0-0
Celtic vs. Aalborg 0-0
2. round
Aalborg vs. Man.Utd. 0-3
Villarreal vs. Celtic 1-0
3. round
Man.Utd. vs. Celtic 3-0
Villarreal vs. Aalborg 6-3
4. round
Aalborg vs. Villarreal 2-2
Celtic vs. Man.Utd. 1-1
5. round
Villarreal vs. Man.Utd. 0-0
Aalborg vs. Celtic 2-1
6. round
Man.Utd. vs. Aalborg 2-2
Celtic vs. Villarreal 2-0

Group F

1. round
Steaua vs. Bayern 0-1
Lyon vs. Fiorentina 2-2
2. round
Bayern vs. Lyon 1-1
Fiorentina vs. Steaua 0-0
3. round
Bayern vs. Fiorentina 3-0
Steaua vs. Lyon 3-5
4. round vs. 5. studenog
Lyon vs. Steaua 2-0
Fiorentina vs. Bayern 1-1
5. round
Bayern vs. Steaua 3-0
Fiorentina vs. Lyon 1-2
6. round
Steaua vs. Fiorentina 0-1
Lyon vs. Bayern 2-3

Group G

1. round
Porto vs. Fenerbahce 3-1
Dinamo vs. Arsenal 1-1
2. round
Arsenal vs. Porto 4-0
Fenerbahce vs. Dinamo 0-0
3. round
Porto vs. Dinamo 0-1
Fenerbahce vs. Arsenal 2-5
4. round
Arsenal vs. Fenerbahce 0-0
Dinamo vs. Porto 1-2
5. round
Fenerbahce vs. Porto 1-2
Arsenal vs. Dinamo 1-0
6. round
Porto vs. Arsenal 2-0
Dinamo vs. Fenerbahce 1-0

Group H

1. round
Juventus vs. Zenit 1-0
Real vs. BATE 2-0
2. round
BATE vs. Juventus 2-2
Zenit vs. Real 1-2
3. round
Juventus vs. Real 2-1
Zenit vs. BATE 1-1
4. round
BATE vs. Zenit 0-2
Real vs. Juventus 0-2
5. round
Zenit vs. Juventus 0-0
BATE vs. Real 0-1
6. round
Juventus vs. BATE 0-0
Real vs. Zenit 3-0

Champions League stats

Total goals scored 247

Top scorers

Messi Barcelona 5
Gerrard Liverpool 5
Klose Bayern 5
Benzema Lyon 5
Berbatov Man. Utd. 4

Assists

Ribéry Bayern 5
Due Aalborg 4
Lampard Chelsea 4
Messi Barcelona 3
Savio Anorthosis 3

Shots on goal

Lampard Chelsea 12
Mutu Fiorentina 12
Jadson Shakhtar 12
Ronaldo Man. Utd. 12
Özil Bremen 12

Yellow cards

Frings Werder 5
Trica CFR Cluj 4
Hagus BATE 4
Brandao Shakhtar 4
Deco Chelsea 4

Fouls committed

Brown Celtic 19
Toulalan Lyon 19
Mutu Fiorentina 18
Khagush BATE 17
Fernandinho Shakhtar 17

Fouls sustained

Chamakh Bordeaux 27
Milevski Dinamo K. 26
Toni Bayern 23
Ribéry Bayern 22
Srna Shakhtar 20

Ozren Podnar

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