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Champions League Round of 16 – Team by team guide

Sport360 staff

21:13 11/12/2017

The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League took place at UEFA’s headquarters in Switzerland on Monday.

It served up a few exciting clashes with Chelsea v Barcelona, Real Madrid v PSG and Juventus v Tottenham the chief among them.

Here’s a look at all the sides involved.

GROUP WINNERS

BARCELONA

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Star man: Lionel Messi

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015

The LaLiga leaders have shrugged off the loss of Neymar this season and came through Group D unbeaten to top the group above Juventus. They’re probably the last team Chelsea would have liked to face in the Round of 16.

The Messi-led Barcelona topped their group over Juventus.

BESIKTAS

Coach: Senol Gunes

Star man: Cenk Tosun

Champions League/European Cup best: Quarter-finals 1987

Although they topped a relatively weak Group G ahead of Porto, the reigning Turkish champions have suffered indifferent form this season and sit fifth in the Super Lig table. Few clubs ever fancy an away trip to Istanbul, but there are far tougher teams you could pull out of the hat.

LIVERPOOL

Coach: Jurgen Klopp

Star man: Mohamed Salah

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005

Liverpool romped to first place in Group E, scoring 23 goals as they ran up the score in big wins over Sevilla and Maribor. With an attacking unit including Salah, Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino there is no end of goals in this team, but their defensive vulnerabilities remain and may well be exposed as the standard of competition ramps up.

Liverpool have been banging in goals for fun with their attack.

MANCHESTER CITY

Coach: Pep Guardiola

Star man: Kevin De Bruyne

Champions League/European Cup best: Semi-finals 2016

Guardiola’s team have been widely hailed as the best in Europe after a swashbuckling start to the Premier League season, and they cruised through Group F, winning their first five games before fielding a much-changed side away to Shakhtar Donetsk. But converting plaudits into silverware is the task ahead, and these relative Champions League novices still have plenty to prove.

MANCHESTER UNITED

Coach: Jose Mourinho

Star man: Paul Pogba

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1968, 1999, 2008

Mourinho’s men topped Group A with a mixture of silk and steel as they averaged two goals a game but conceded only three in all six outings. Key summer signing Nemanja Matic has added the missing teeth to United’s midfield to go with the goal threat of Romelu Lukaku and the fit-again Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

A Pogba inspired Manchester United can be a match for any team.

PARIS ST GERMAIN

Coach: Unai Emery

Star man: Neymar

Champions League/European Cup best: Semi-finals 1995

Paris St Germain have made little secret of the fact the Champions League is their number one priority, and with Ligue 1 appearing to take care of itself – they top the table by nine points – they will go all in. World-record signing Neymar has elevated their game considerably, but Edinson Cavani is keeping up in the scoring rates and they look extremely dangerous.

With Neymar leading the line, PSG will be one of the favourites.

ROMA

Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco

Star man: Edin Dzeko

Champions League/European Cup best: Runners-up 1984

With Edin Dzeko in the form of his life – the 31-year-old earned a Ballon d’Or nomination this year – Roma managed to edge out Chelsea to top Group C. They are far from the full package, but as Chelsea will attest from their 3-0 hiding in the Italian capital, they should not be underestimated.

TOTTENHAM

Coach: Mauricio Pochettino

Star man: Harry Kane

Champions League/European Cup best: Semi-finals 1962

They may be struggling to match recent form in the Premier League, but Tottenham are having another coming-of-age season in the Champions League. Their 3-1 win over Real Madrid at Wembley felt like a huge moment, and it is a big achievement to top a group boasting both the current holders and Borussia Dortmund. Just how far can they go?

GROUP RUNNERS-UP

BASEL

Coach: Raphael Wicky

Star man: Dmitri Oberlin

Champions League/European Cup best: Quarter-finals 1974

Basel impressed as they finished runners-up to Manchester United in Group A, beating Jose Mourinho’s side at home and putting five past Benfica. In Oberlin, the 20-year-old striker on loan from Red Bull Salzburg, they have one of the hottest young properties in European football.

BAYERN MUNICH

Coach: Jupp Heynckes

Star man: Robert Lewandowski

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013

After a slow start to the season Bayern are humming once more under Heynckes, the man who masterminded their last Champions League triumph in 2013. They could only finish runners-up in Group B behind Paris St Germain, but won five of their six group stage matches.

Bayern seem to be getting back to their best under Heynckes.

CHELSEA

Coach: Antonio Conte

Star man: Eden Hazard

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 2012

With their Premier League title defence faltering, Conte could be tempted to go all in on the Champions League. That said, after finishing runners-up in Group C, they now face Barcelona, which will be no easy task.

JUVENTUS

Coach: Massimiliano Allegri

Star man: Gianluigi Buffon

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1985, 1996

With Gianluigi Buffon seeking a fairytale ending to his career after three times suffering defeat in the Champions League final, Juve are once again leaning heavily on their defence. They kept clean sheets in three of their six group stage matches, including a goalless draw with group winners Barcelona.

Last season’s runner-up have it in them to go all the way.

PORTO

Coach: Sergio Conceicao

Star man: Vincent Aboubakar

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1987, 2004

Porto might be the kindest draw any of the group winners could hope for in the last 16. Runners-up in a weak Group G, they conceded almost two goals a game, and though striker Aboubakar has been in good form, they do not appear to have the weapons to go much further.

REAL MADRID

Coach: Zinedine Zidane

Star man: Cristiano Ronaldo

Champions League/European Cup best: Winners 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017

The back-to-back winners made a slow start to the season – made clear by the fact they remain fourth in LaLiga – but found their mojo in the Champions League, even if they had to settle for runners-up spot behind Tottenham in Group H. Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo scored nine goals in the six group matches and they remain as dangerous as they come.

The two-times defending champion have been handed a tough draw.

SEVILLA

Coach: Eduardo Berizzo

Star man: Wissam Ben Yedder

Champions League/European Cup best: Quarter-finals 1958

Sevilla won only two of their Group E fixtures but got through on the back of being hard to beat – all except for the complete aberration which was their 5-1 loss to Spartak Moscow in October. That exposed their key weakness – although they can score plenty, they struggle to keep the back door closed, and kept just one clean sheet against lowly Maribor.

SHAKHTAR DONETSK

Coach: Paulo Fonseca

Star man: Bernard

Champions League/European Cup best: Quarter-finals 2011

Manchester City were always favourites in Group F but Napoli were supposed to follow them through. Shakhtar had other ideas and immediately tore up the script by beating the Italians in their opening match. By the time they wrapped up the group by beating a much-changed City side, Fonseca had to fulfil a promise to turn up to his press conference dressed as Zorro.

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