CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: ROUND 16, OUR PREDICTION (article in English and Español)

We have the draws of the Round 16 of the Champions League and there is here our prediction:

1-INTER MILAN-CHELSEA FC

Possibly it is the more balanced draw since both have incredible squads and both are leaders in their respective leagues, but we do not know but Inter does not transmit great feelings, since it plays with a little laziness, knowing that it is the best Italian team and that it will win the Serie A games without many problems in any play thanks to the quality of the players like the excellent striker Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o or the top midfielder Wesley Sneijder. Maybe this laziness may be enough to win games against normal teams but it is insufficient in important and complicated games like this draw against FC Chelsea and in fact Inter won only 2 Champions league´s game until this moment, showing a poor image in different games like in the game at the Camp Nou against FC Barcelona. José Mourinho has to work to have a serious candidate to win this draw against FC Chelsea, which continues as habitual in the last year, with good level both defensive and offensive-it is Premier League´s team with less goals received and besides is the top scorer-.Anyway, one thing is clear, any football fan must watch these games, since the spectacle is guarantee with players like Joe Cole, Didier Drogba, John Terry, Deco, Essien, Ballack, Zhirkov, Lucio, Sneijder, Eto'o, Milito, Julio Cesar, Maicon, Balotelli ... ..

2-VFB STUTTGART-FC BARCELONA

If FC Barcelona is always a favourite, what we can say this time, since it will play against a team which has many problems during this season:15th position in the Bundesliga-3 wins in 17 games-, it has new coach, Christian Gross-former Basle´s coach-, who arrive to replace Markus Babbel to try to fix the problems of the team, which has both defensively –it is normal if you have a goalkeeper like Jens Lehmann(his last mistake was during the last game where he committed an absurd aggression over the Mainz striker Aristide Bance and the result was a red card and a penalty)-and offensively, since although it has good players like the Romanian offensive midfielder Ciprian Marica-perhaps is the best player on the team-or the good Russian striker Pavel Pogrebnyak, they are not finding the correct way to get a good sum of goals. So, many problems to can be a real alternative and to have some chances to beat an excellent and powerful team like this current FC Barcelona, which is being a solid and strong team in all the lines and of course with incredible results, 6 titles in a season, the last, the World Championship after a complicated game against a hard Estudiantes de La Plata.

3-OLYMPIACOS-GIRONDINS BORDEAUX

Good and equalized draw, although we think that Girondins has more chances to play next round, cause the Laurent Blanc´s team is showing that the last season French title was not a fluke and this season, it is showing a great strength both in Le Championat-it is the comfortable leader-and in the Champions League, where it finished in top position of a complicated and strong group with Juventus and Bayern Munich as rivals, showing that is a very balanced team in all lines thanks to the level of players like the defender Ciani, the midfielders Fernando Menegazzo and Alou Diarra, the imaginative and skilled Yoan Gourcuff-many team, like FC Barcelona, are following this player-, the right winger Yoan Gouffran or as the skilled striker Marouane Chamakh, who, by the way, finish his contract with Girondins this summer. So, it is a very good team and I think that it will impose its quality to Olof Mellberg, Dudu Cearense, Stoltidis, Enzo Maresca and Costas Mitroglou.

4-CSKA MOSCOW-FC SEVILLA

It will also be a balanced draw, since although CSKA is not making a good season in the Russian league-5th position in the standing-, it is a dangerous team in this kind of rounds, since it has a competitive squad with players like the great young goalkeeper, Igor Akinfeev, or the solid defender like the Berezutsky brothers, Sergey Ignashevich or the Lithuanian back Semberas, or the experienced midfielder Evgeni Aldonin, or the excellent right midfielder Milos Krasic-possibly the best player of the team and one of the best right midfielder of the world- or “the young pearl” Alan Dzagoev, who is on the agendas of many top European clubs. Perhaps the biggest problem of this team is the lack of a great and top striker and its lack of competition´s games, since the Russian league finish this month and of course it will be complicated to the Russian team to play against a team, whose players are 100% and specially if the rival players are players with the level of players like Jesus Navas, Kanoute, Luis Fabiano, Alvaro Negredo or Diego Perotti.

5-FC PORTO-ARSENAL FC

Arsenal-it will play without the injured Robin Van Persie-will have many problems to beat FC Porto, which is a good team , since Jesualdo Ferreira has competitive players in all the lines if we exclude the goalkeeper Helton. It will be very nice to see the different duels during this draw: the hard Bruno Alves-he scores many goals with his head-and Rolando against Theo Walcott and Eduardo; the competitive Fernando, Raul Meireles and Fernando Belluschi against Samir Nasri, Francesc Fàbregas and Andrei Arshavin or the battle between the great Hulk -the "incredible" Hulk is the best player of the team, he has vision, quality and goal-and the wily Radamel Falcao-8 goals in 12 Superliga´s games-against the Arsenal defensive´s line. So, we have a very attractive battle and although Arsenal is the favourite, it has to play 100%.

6 – OLYMPIQUE LYON- REAL MADRID

This draw can be a trap for Real Madrid because although it might seem relatively straightforward, since Olympique is making a poor season in the French league –it is far from the first place of the standing, with a terrible and strange streak of 3 wins in the last 10 games-, we think that Real Madrid should be careful because the Lyon´s coach, Claude Puel, is a great strategist and knows to get the best performance of his teams in this kind of games, especially if his squad is composed by good players, like this Lyon, where we can find players like the goalkeeper Lloris-player of the French national team-, or the good midfielders like the strong Toulalan and Jean Makoun or the skilled Ederson, Michael Bastos or the young Bosnian Miralem Pjnaic (one of the pearls of European football), or the complete offensive line with players like the skilled Lisandro Lopez- he is adapted 100% to the European football- and the powerful Bafetimbi Gomis. In short, it is a complete team and of course it can trouble Real Madrid, whose performance is uncertain, since until this moment it is not playing very well and we will see if in February Kaka and Karim Benzema will be 100% adapted, if the team will have defensive problems after the Pepe's injury....

7-BAYERN MUNICH-FIORENTINA

It seems that finally the Louis Van Gaal´s team has found the correct way and it is gradually improving its level and after a disappointing start-2 points in the 3 first Bundesliga´s games-,it is making a great final part of the year both in the Bundesliga-it is very close of the top position in the Bundesliga´s standing-and in the Champions League, where it got an amazing win at the Olimpico di Torino (1-4). Great results for a team whose squad is very complete, since we can find players like Philipp Lahm, Daniel Van Buyten or the offensive back Danijel Pranjic in the defensive line, the hard Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, young Thomas Müller (one of ”the german pearls” and one of the sensations of the season), the incredible Franck Ribéry (one of the best in the world), Arjen Robben or the dangerous Bastian Schweinsteiger as midfielders, or the powerful forward´s line with players like wily Ivica Olic, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose. So, it is a top team, called to make good thing this season and we think that it will not have many problems to beat Fiorentina, cause Fiore in at this moment far from being a competitive team and in fact it is making a poor Serie A´s season- in the middle of the standing- with many offensive problems, which is a bit strange, since Cesare Prandelli has good offensive players like the young Jovetic-the Montenegrin has a great future-, Gilardino or Adrian Mutu-he is far from his best level-.

8- AC MILAN-MANCHESTER UNITED

It is unknown what AC Milan we will see against United, if it will show its Bernabeu´s image-it played well against Real Madrid-or if it will show the other face, the face showed during the game against Inter (0-4, hard defeat) or during the games against modest Zurich. Obviously if the AC Milan wants to have any chance to beat Manchester United, it will need the best of all the stars-it needs the best performance of its best player, the Brazilian Alexandre Pato, who will have a complicated games against the great Vidic-Rio Ferdinand-, playing a hard style, closed game, without concession, impeding the United´s style some tough matches, since if United, which has better defensive and offensive level, can play with speed, it will be the clear favourite and it will pass to the next round without many troubles.

Cheers,

J&F