Wow oh wow!So here are the ties :

VfB Stuttgart - Barcelona

Olympiakos - Bordeaux

Inter - Chelsea

Bayern Munich - Fiorentina

Cska Moscow - Sevilla

Lyon - Real Madrid

Porto - Arsenal

AC Milan - Manchester United

The first legs will take place on February 16, 17, 23 & 24, with the second legs on March 9, 10, 16 & 17.

My immediate predictions:

-Barcelona
-Bordeaux
-Chelsea ahem. Jose homecoming, expect some fireworks!
-Bayern Munich seem to have some firepower, atleast in the champions league, Fiorentina are no pushovers either, tight game this.
-Sevilla
-Lyon, an imminent Real Madrid disaster coming? The French have done it before.
-Porto, although I hope I'm wrong. They could bulldoze Arsenal and rarely concede anything at home.
-AC Milan. Ah, the romance of the Rossoneri. Very tough one to call but they are the dark horses. I'd like to see Milan going through this one but I'm being biased here.

Predictions?

Edit:I had originally intended to make this thread in the Terrace, suffice to say when I came back for a peek-in, here it is in the Stands. My Homer moment, D'Oh. How good are the mods with U-Haul? . Apologies guys

Very very hard time for Italy in the knockout stage.
Lucky Barca and Arsenal-its gonna' be a breeze for them.
Predictions? I love to do them.

-Barcelona. We can't really expect a fairy tale.
-Bordeaux. Easy as that.
-Chelsea. As you said, fireworks here, but Chelsea would be too much for Inter I think. Chelsea's well-packed midfield and physical dominance will give hard-time to any team.
-Bayern. We can expect a very good match, as both the team's confidence level are high. But, in my opinion Bayern will edge Viola.
-Sevilla.
-Real Madrid. I don't think a disaster will happen, because Madrid are gelling well together as a team and they have champions league tradition.
-Arsenal. As I said, Arsenal will ease past.
-Match to watch:Red Devils vs Il Diavolo WOW!But.... Er.... I can't really make any predictions-both teams are good and both have a very good champions league tradition. So, i'll keep my fingers-crossed for this cracker and pray that Milan gets past

As usual, its going to very hard for the Itallian teams. Especially for Inter and Milan. But when you look from Chelsea and Man Ut point of view, Gonaa be very tough for them too. So lot of action waiting. I think Barca, Bourdeaux, chelsea, bayern, Madrid, Arsenal and Milan(biased) are gonna' get through this round

Waoooooooooooooo I want to see these 3 games.
Inter milan vs chelsea (superb match between 2 great teams and mourinho's return at stamforde bridge)
Ac milan vs manchester (2 monsters European and david beckam's return at old trafford))
Madrid vs lyon (benzema's return at gerland)

May Be Dream Draw for Barca because VFB STuutgart is near relegation in their Bundesliga...

Inter VS chelsea    Return for Mourinho at stamford bridge.    I hope Eto'o score and help his team....

Wow. Some really great fixtures already this year. But lets take a closer look shall we.

VfB Stuttgart - Barcelona: possibly the most one sided fixture in the list. Barca has superior midfield, defence, and obviously atccking prowess. In my oppinion, stuttgart doesn't have much hope of making it through to the quarter finals, but this is football, and anything can happen. Their best hope is to copy the chelsea mold from last season. Defend defend defend, and then hit em on the counter attack and hope for a bit of luck. Barca will no doubt play the game we're all used to seeing from them. That's the thing about big teams. They rarely change their style of play to suit their opponents, rather forcing their opponents to change their style of play for them. This could very well backfire on the catalans.

Olympiakos - Bordeaux: another rather one-sided fixture, as olympiakos really isn't that great of a team, and bordeaux has been phenominal recently. I expect the french to come through on this fixture, but don't count olypiacos out. It certainly won't be a blow out, and will likely be decided by one to two goals.

Inter - Chelsea: match of the draw in my oppinion, though I am slightly biased. No matter what happens, one big team is going out. Inter's manager jose mourinho could have his job on the line, since he was brought to inter to get the champions league, and getting knocked out in the round of 16 twice in a row doesn't look so good. What's more, is that mourinho will be playing against a team that loves him, yet will be looking to show him that they are even better now, than when he was at the helm. That's alot of pressure.... But then again, when has pressure ever gotten to the portuguese tactician. Chelsea of course is desperate for champions league glory, having come so close in recent years, only to have it taken away by what some argue to be luck, others argue to be simply not being better than their opponents. No matter the reason, chelsea will be determined to show that we don't need luck, and that we really are the best in europe for once.

Bayern Munich - Fiorentina: for me, this will be the second most exciting match of this round. Both teams have been superb in europe this season and are really looking to make some noise. Bayern has not done so well lately compared to how their history suggests they should be doing, so they will be pretty determined to move on past this round, and then possibly to the final. Fioentina is currently trying to prove that they are not just a scary team in italy, but in all of europe, and if there is ever a season to show that, this is the one. Expect either alot of goals, or alot of saves from both teams.

Cska Moscow - Sevilla: cska has done very well in the group stages having to compete with german champions wolfsburg and EPL champs man you, and still making it through. And so long as they keep dzagoev come january (hopefully chelsea goes for him ) I think they have a real chance at going far in this tournament. However sevilla are no pushovers, and are a real test for the russians to see just how serious they are. The spaniards haven't seen any silverwear since the days of ramos and are currently dreaming of glory at higher levels than when ramos was there. Mind you, that does seem like nothing more than a dream, this is again, football.

Lyon - Real Madrid: honestly, if you look at the history of these two clubs, this seems like a very tough one to call. However, unfortunatly for lyon, we live in the present, not the past. No doubt lyon is a good team, but real madrid is a great team, with as much talent on their bench as lyon has on the field (in terms of superstars that is). Lyon is playing with alot of unknowns this season, though that isn't to say that these unknowns arent still fantastic players. And of course they do have their superstars as well. However I just can't see lyon getting past a madrid with the likes of ronaldo, kaka, and their former favorite benzema, without the like of the former and their former fearless leader juninho. Especially since come febuary, this madrid team should be used to playing with eachother come febuary. But this is still a clash of two giants and anything can happen.

Porto - Arsenal: a very tough match. Porto is very organized defensively, holding an in form chelsea to only scoring a goal each time they played, and carries a decent attacking threat. Arsenal is still having their troubles at the back though song has been playing very well recently in the holding midfield role, while they carry a massive attacking threat if they aren't marked tightly enough. I do expect arsenal to come through, but honestly, this one is really, really close. Toss a coin boys and girls cause this one could very well come down to who is luckier.

AC Milan - Manchester United: beckham returns to united. Now that will be some homecoming. Ac milan have recently found their form, and ronaldinho is starting to look like himself again and with the help of the former english captain, they have a real shot at defeating the english chapions. The only thing Man UTD has on milan is their defence. Milan still doesn't have a world class keeper, and their defence needs some improving. Though Man UTD hasn't had as good a defence recently as what we have seen from them over the last few seasons, they are still pretty solid back there. But they also lack that attacking spark despite being in good form at the moment. Milan certainly isn't missing that with the likes of ronaldinho and seedorf playing excellently and pato, huntelaar, and boriello doing their parts up front. Don't be surprised to see a pretty even match with a few goals in it.

Might be one of the best knockout stages for awhile

Well, I am an AC Milan supporter, and I know that the team is capable of beating United if they play at their top level. However, they are not the most consistent team ever, so I can only hope that the day they do play United they win....
I generally want Italian teams to do well in the champions league, but doesn't look like this is the year, because Chelsea will probably beat Inter, and well, Fiorentina have a tough draw.... Let's just hope that it goes well for all the teams, but anyhow, I know that it will be a great round of qualifying....

Ohhh! That's horrible to hear we are going to face inter!, I think we are facing our own relative team, inter, because our former coach is present coach for them, thier team doing in last games, I was not sure about thier playing with us, they are struggled very hard with them, I known they are not in good form. I known we will beat them, but they can do it well in that match, because we are not having luck! We are missing by some other reasons, like last season semi-final incident, I cannot relieve from that, still I am angry with referees, those who spoiled our dream! But I have confidence that we will do this year by having some hope with ancelttoi!. That's fine but whats about manutd vs milan, it will be a cracker to watch, I was expecting many things from stuggart as they are playing against barca, they should oh well. Best wishes to blues!

Well this is incredible. Olympiakos and Bordeaux? Barca and Stuttgart?

What's happened to the seeding - don't they do it in the Champions League?

AC Milan and Manchester United? Inter and Chelsea? Munich and Fiorentina? Lyon and Madrid? Wow.

My predictions are as follows....

First Leg

Match 1 VfB Stuttgart 0-0 Barcelona
Match 2 Olympiakos 0-1 Bordeaux
Match 3 Inter Milan 1-1 Chelsea
Match 4 Bayern Munich 3-3 Fiorentina
Match 5 CSKA Moscow 2-1 Sevilla
Match 6 Lyon 1-1 Real Madrid
Match 7 Porto 1-3 Arsenal
Match 8 AC Milan 1-2 Manchester United

Second leg

Match 1 Barcelona 3-0 VfB Stuttgart (Aggregate Barca 3-0 Stuttgart)
Match 2 Bordeaux 2-0 Olympiakos (Aggregate Bordeaux 3-0 Olympiakos)
Match 3 Chelsea 2-0 Inter Milan (Aggregate Chelsea 3-1 Inter Milan)
Match 4 Fiorentina 2-1 Bayern Munich (Aggregate Fiorentina 5-4 Bayern Munich)
Match 5 Sevilla 3-2 CSKA Moscow a. E. T 4-2 p. S. Oh (Aggregate Sevilla 4-4 CSKA Moscow)
Match 6 Real Madrid 2-0 Lyon (Aggregate Real Madrid 3-1 Lyon)
Match 7 Arsenal 0-1 Porto (Aggregate Arsenal 3-2 Lyon)
Match 8 Manchester United 0-2 AC Milan (Aggregate AC Milan 3-2 Manchester United)

So into the quarter finals go....
Barcelona, Bordeaux, Chelsea, Fiorentina, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Arsenal and AC Milan.

I think we can expect some surprises.
Match 1: VfB Stuttgart won the Bundesliga a few years ago after coming up the ranks but they have rapidly fallen again, and even though they will do well to salvage a draw from the hard-working Barca at home, they will be no match for the Catalan Giants when they travel to Spain.

Match 2: Bordeaux are on fire at the moment and it will be a breeze for them, even though on one or two occasions a mistake is made, they are still way above Olympiakos and will sail through to the quarter finals.

Match 3: One of the most interesting matches of the knockout round. Samuel Eto'o will be eager for goals but so will Drogba and in Italy the turnout will be 1-1 but Chelsea will try their hardest at home and Anelka along with his partner Drogba will bang in the goals for a 2-0, 3-1 aggregate victory.

Match 4: This is a well balanced encounter. Fiorentina were amazing in the group stage, and came down hard on Liverpool who were relegated to the Europa League, and they will work their socks off in both legs. Bayern have been great too, and they of course have the most World Class players out of the two teams which includes Ribery and Toni. Alot of people here would have said Bayern for this one but I think the Italians will try that hard to get a draw away, and then a narrow win at home to go through on aggregate 5-4.

Match 5: Again, a tough one to predict between the Russian and Spanish teams. I think that it will be really, really tough and both teams will grab desperate goals in the last seconds of both legs to make it 4-4 agg. But CSKA will go on to win it through away goals (CSKA 2-1 Sevilla)

Match 6: I think we were expecting some weird results but Real, with their new(ish) signings, they'll easily get an aggregate 3-1 win against the brilliant but unreliable French champions.

Match 7: Porto are better than you think, Pragathish. They always seem to play well whereever they are and are great together, a bit like Barcelona and their opponents in the way they pass. They have strength in every position and Hulk is a main danger upfront, but of course I still bet on the Gunners nicking it 3-2 aggregate, just. Both teams will win away from home but Arsenal will still have the advantage and advance to the quarter finals.

Match 8: In my opinion, the most interesting of the lot. It won't be as thrilling as that 7-1 a few years ago, or as a breeze for United. It will amazing!. I think United will snatch the win away 2-1 but the Italians with Ronaldinho, Pirlo and Pato will do as hard as they can and someone will set up a goal in the last few seconds of the second leg in Manchester for AC Milan to make it 2-0 (3-2 aggregate)

All I can say is.... Next year's Champions League is going to ROCK!

Well when I read some of your predictions I tought I make one of my

VfB Stuttgart-Fc Barcelona:
That seems really clear that Barcelona will win. They are just clearly favorites and have a better game. But with Germans, you never know!

My expectation:
1st meeting: 1-3
2nd meeting: 3-0
Barcelona will clearly go over it!

Olympioakos-bordeaux:

I find this interesting game. Bordeaux favorite here but olympioakos will not let them win. Bordeaux will finish the game at home

Prediction
1st meeting: 2-1 Olympiakos
2nd meeting: Bordeaux 2-1

Internazionale-chelsea:

I find this the most beautiful game. Internazionale have just a great team with a great coach. But somehow they have always difficulties in the Championsleaqeu. And then they take a strong Chelsea who are hard to beat with a strong drogba who is in form.

Predict:
1st meeting: 0-0 draw
2nd meeting: 2-0 Chelsea

Bayern-Fiorentina:

Also a nice poster Bayern only has a stronger team. Italians are never easy and especially not this team. Fiorentina has two deadly strikers, I do think that Bayern will make it to next round

Predict:
1st meeting: 1-0 Bayern
2nd meeting: 2-0 Fiorentina

CSKA-sevilla:

I think that two teams that really matched his. Seville simply as a great collective team. But I think CSKA a notorious opponent, with a star Krasic. But still sevilla has got kanoute and luis fabiano

Predict
1st meeting: 2-0 sevilla
2nd meeting: 1-1

Lyon-Real Madrid

A very nice game with two great teams. Real natural as favorite because they have star players. Lyon is always far in the Championsleque and at one point they fall out. This year I think they at least reach the semi finals. So they will also have to beat Real.


1st meeting: 2-1 Lyon
2nd meeting: 0-3 real madrid

FC Porto-Arsenal

Arsenal is a great team with beautiful footbal its realy a joy to watch. Fc Porto is a team that some time play good and some time well below there game. I think arsenal will advance to the next round

Predict
1st meeting: 0-2 to Arsenal
2nd meeting: 3-0 Arsenal

Ac Milan-man utd

The second favourite game. Milan has shown still can win. And with beckham back in the old trafford it brings a bit of emotion too. Man UTD still needs to convince people that they are still the Man UTD from last year and this is just the game to show people what they are made of.

Predict
1st meeting: 2-1 Mancester united
2nd meeting: 0-2 Milan

Sorry for the bad writing my english isn't that good

First leg Stuttgart 0 Barcalona 2 even away I expect Barcalona to stroll past Stuttgart.
Olympiacos 0 Bordeaux 0 after the first leg I expect Bordeaux to have the upper hand. Inter Milan 2 Chelsea 2 fairly even tie for the first leg. Bayern Munich 1 Fiorentina 0 Bayern keep it cool at home. CSKA Moskva 1 Sevilla 1 great match up in Moskow. Lyon 2 Real Madrid 1 even millions of euro can't match teamwork. Porto 1 Arsenal 1 The Arsenal to be in control after the first leg. AC Milan 1 Manchester United 0 AC nick a home win. Second leg Barcalona 4 Stuggart 0 Barcalona always in control(6 0 Barcalona). Bordeaux 2 Olympiacos 0 (2 0 Bordeaux). Chelsea 2 Inter Milan 0 (4 3 Chelsea). Fiorentina 1 Bayern Munich 0 Bayern win in penalthy shootout as Germans always seem to do. Sevilla 0 CSKA Moskva 1 (CSKA win 2 1) Real Madrid 1 Lyon 0 (Real Madrid win on away goals). Arsenal 1 Porto 0 (Arsenal 2 Porto 0). Manchester United 2 AC Milan 0 (Manchester United win 2 1).

Teams through Barcalona, Bordeaux, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, CSKA Moskva, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester United

What's up with Sevilla drawing CSKA? Weird, even though Sevilla thrashed Real in La Liga. Still, though

Bordeaux can`t make any mistakes against Olympiakos, but you never know. I predict a composite win of 4 2 for Bordeaux.

Fiorentina can eliminate Bayern although Ribery will be back. Don forgett what Fiorentina did to Liverpool. With the italiens you never know. I predict a 2 - 1 win for Fiorentina.

Manchester United will have a "hell" of a match against Milan. Despite Milan’s good form I think Manchester has the strength to beat Milan. Ipredict a 2 - 1 win for Manchester.

Real Madrid shouldn`t have any problems with Lyon. With Ronaldo in a good form is will be Easy for Real. I predict a 4 - 1 win for Real

The easiest draw is Barca against Stuttgart. I saw Stuttgart play and they are a very weak team. God help them when Barca will come and wipe the floor with Stuttgart.
The only way they can save themselves is to abandon the match and get only 3 0. Here I predict a 6 - 2 for Barcelona, the 2 goals for Stuttgart would be 2 own goals from valdes.

The toughest match will be between Chelsea and Inter but with Drogba, the most dangerous striker in the world the blues will get a 2 0 win at home. Inter will play defensively in both matches. Chelsea’s defence is a bit suspect, however they cannot lose at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea will qualify for sure. They will beat Inter with a composite win of 3-1. Mourinho will not get past Ancelotti.


So guys fasten your seatbelts and let`s get ready to rumble