We are finally down to the business end of things. With United not in the competition and with the new format I found it hard to get into any of the earlier games since the excitement has been taken out of the group stages.
I did watch a few bits of this weeks games now that it is knockout and they were some great nailbiters to get over the line.
Now we are at last 16 stage and down to the big boys plus Bodo who are having some run of it.
Last 16:
(First legs 10-11 March, second legs 17-18 March)
- Manchester City v Real Madrid
- Bodo/Glimt v Sporting Club
- Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea
- Newcastle United v Barcelona
- Galatasaray v Liverpool
- Atlético Madrid v Tottenham
- Atalanta v Bayern Munich
- Bayer Leverkusen v Arsenal
A few tasty ones in this most noticeably Man City/ Madrid yet again. That's five years in a row I believe meeting in the knockout stages. Neither team is what they were five years ago but they are still two of the biggest names in football.
Tricky ties for Chelsea, Newcastle and Liverpool with Arsenal seeming to get the better end of the draw with Leverkusen who are no world beaters.
Hard to predict which teams are going to make it to the last 8 but this is where it gets interesting for me. When it's hard to call and when everything is on the line.
I'll have to see if I can create a prediction pool on Sportstalk.app and list all of the teams for us to have a bit of fun going forward.
Two weeks until this next round which gives me a bit of time to set it all up.