UEFA Champions League draw, 2013 knockout stages: Real Madrid draw Manchester United

UEFA officials were surprised when Thursday’s draw for the Champions League knockout stages produced the exact same results as a test run gave them on Wednesday.

The draw is random, and there’s a high number of potential matchups between the 16 teams qualified for the knockout stages. So when a rehearsal for the draw on Wednesday produced a slate featuring showdowns between Real Madrid and Manchester United, AC Milan and Barcelona, and Arsenal and Bayern Munich, they never could have expected the real draw on Thursday at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland to produce identical pairings.

Last year’s broken up format is back for this season, giving everyone the chance to watch more games. The only downside is that it takes a month to complete a tie. The Round of 16 won’t be completed until mid-March.

February 12

Schalke are in a bit of a mess at the moment having slipped to seventh in the Bundesliga, with manager Huub Stevens losing his job as a result of the dip in form. There’s no coach tied down long-term at present, but one would expect that a decision will be made sooner rather than later, and that the new man would be able to bring the squad together once more for an assault on qualifying for the next round of continental play.

That job will entail getting past a Galatasaray side that performed as expected in a simple group - they got beaten by a superior Manchester United and did the business against CFR Cluj and Braga to qualify. They’ll fancy their chances of progressing further.

Malaga and Porto will probably be quite glad to have drawn each other in the Champions League, as it gives both clubs a decent chance of making a real impact on the competition.

Neither side is likely to go all the way and win it, but both are well-organised teams which can be highly dangerous, particularly Porto, and particularly at the Estadio do Dragao. That will likely give the Portuguese the edge, but this is a well-matched encounter and either team could win.

The Bianconeri will be pleased to be here too, though, after years of underachievement in the post-Calciopoli hangover. Now they’re back, and they mean business, and in theory they’ve been given an easy game here.

It’s not that simple, though, because the Hoops’ once-famed invulnerability at Celtic Park in Europe appears to have returned to them after they won a glorious victory against Barcelona, and they’ll be hoping to do the same against Juventus. There’s the potential for a real fairytale here, but the odds are seriously against the Glaswegians, and the expectation will all be on the Italians to make it through.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the world’s top center forwards, and has been for the better part of a decade, but his best performances always come in league play. For Ajax, Inter Milan, Barcelona and AC Milan, he never brought his best in the UEFA Champions League. In Paris Saint-Germain’s Round of 16 tie against Valencia, they’ll be expecting him to shed his reputation as a player who can’t get the job done on Europe’s biggest stage.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Because, come on, of course it’s Zlatan. PSG goes as he goes, and fortunately for them, he’s been one of the best players on the planet so far this season. As long as Ibrahimovic is scoring goals and setting up his teammates, PSG are difficult to stop, but they’ve struggled whenever he has failed to play well (which hasn’t been often) or when he’s been absent from their lineup. PSG won’t win if he doesn’t perform.

Cristiano Ronaldo. Obviously. The winger has constantly spoke highly of both the club and Ferguson since he left, while songs are still sung about him at pretty much every United away game. It’ll be an emotional encounter for everyone, but also a pretty terrifying one if you’re in a red shirt. Ronaldo is the match-winner to end all match-winners - with him in the game, United will know they are never entirely safe.

The entire Real Madrid team vs. David de Gea - The young Spanish goalkeeper has been linked with a move to Real Madrid already, and with the form United’s defence are in, he’ll have to be at his best to keep the scores low. Fortunately, the keeper is both well-accustomed and well-equipped to desperate strings of shot-stopping in lieu of a decent defence, and it’s pretty much nailed on that he’ll have to do the same here.

Hey, Gunners fans. Seriously, at least it’s not Barcelona.

Bayern to win by two goals. There’s nothing to really suggest that Arsenal can beat Bayern Munich over two legs. There’s just too much quality across the pitch for Arsene Wenger’s side to handle, and although they wouldn’t need to go to the same extremes, it’s hard to see the Gunners coach endorsing similar tactics to ones Roberto Di Matteo favoured the last time Bayern Munich fell to an English side. Instead, this should be an open, exciting tie, settled by the depth in the Munich roster.

Key player

Matchup to watch

Below, you can click on a matchup to see our extended preview of the series.

Obviously most of the attention will be focused on that tie between Real and United, but there’s lots of interesting stuff here. The most striking thing is how well-balanced most of these ties are - the likes of Malaga-Porto and Shakhtar-Dortmund are unlikely to produce a Champions League winner, but could easily produce a finalist and will be fascinating games. Stay tuned to this thread for live updates and analysis as we look ahead to the rest of the competition.

And we’re officially underway! This is the moment when I realise I could’ve set my alarm for much later than this because we’ve got so many formalities and other gumph to go through.

UPDATE: Full UEFA Champions League knockout stage draw results

Said Fabregas, about the potential of the two sides playing in the Round of 16:

Alex Song echoed those sentiments.

In this edition of Champions League, the winners pot isn’t necessarily stronger than the runners up pot. If half of the runners-up win their knockout stage matches, they might not pull them off in upsets. Out of the strong pool, here are the runners-up that group winners will want to avoid.

For some reason, UEFA hasn’t figured out that they could probably sell the rights to their draws and make a good deal of money. It would be nice to assume that they don’t feel like making money is necessary off their draws and that they would like to provide a free service to their fans out of the goodness of their hearts, but that wouldn’t be in line with literally every other thing they’ve ever done. Let’s call this a small oversight.

UPDATE: Full UEFA Champions League knockout stage draw results