Winners and losers in the Champions League draw

The draw for the knockout stages has thrown up some fascinating ties. Claudio Ranieri returning to Stamford Bridge and Sir Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho locking horns again stand out from the crowd.

Chelsea v Juventus
Villarreal v Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Porto
Lyon v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Liverpool
Arsenal v Roma
Inter Milan v Manchester United

So who are the winners and losers in the draw? Well, Lyon might be winning the French league as normal despite a couple of recent setbacks, but they will not have been too thrilled to see themselves drawn against Barcelona.

Juventus are strong and although they won’t fancy it against Chelsea, I certainly wouldn’t put it past the ‘tinker man’ to spring a surprise on his old club.

Jose Mourinho can only prove himself to be a success at Inter if he achieves European glory. He won’t be too delighted to be drawn against the holders but he has triumphed at Old Trafford in Europe before. United fans and Fergie will need no reminding of the sight of Mourinho running down the touchline after Porto snatched a shock equaliser to send United out.

The other two English teams won’t be too worried by their draws. Arsenal will be confident of success against a Roma side currently sitting tenth in Serie A, and Liverpool will respect their formerly great opponents but certainly won’t fear them.

The other two Spanish teams have a great chance of making progress. Villarreal will have been hoping for Panathinaikos and Atletico Madrid could have fared much worse than Porto.

The Sporting and Bayern Munich tie is a tough one to call but the next round will probably be as far as either of them can go anyway.