Champions League Draw: What to expect?

The Champions League draw for the round of 16 is out is out. Well, but still, it's a long way till the matches are played. The matches are to be played on Feb 12-20(1st leg) & March 5-12(2nd leg) 

Schedule

Galatasaray v Schalke

(February 20 and March 12)

Celtic v Juventus

(February 12 and March 6)

Arsenal v Bayern Munich 

(February 19 and March 13)

Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund

(February 13 and March 5)

AC Milan v Barcelona

(February 20 and March 12)

Real Madrid v Manchester United

(February 13, March 5)

Valencia v Paris Saint-Germain

(February 12 and March 6)

Porto v Malaga

(February 19 and March 13)

Pick of the Ties?

Real Madrid vs Manchester United. The 2nd leg is at Old Trafford, pundits say is an advantage, but I'm not very sure. There is always more of a concern of conceding away goals in the 2nd leg than the 1st leg, because you can't do anything about it as there is no 3rd leg to counter effect, unlike the when the 1st leg, u can counter it in the 2nd leg. I usually prefer the Home game being 1st. But sometimes all that matters it quality.

Another fact is the Real Madrid have faced United twice in the Champions League knockout phase and have kicked the out of the competition on both occasions. 

Also no for getting it will be the return of Ronaldo to the theatre of  Dreams. Wonder how will the crowd react to his homecoming.

Other ties

Not many must have noticed but the other match the excites me is Shaktar vs Dortmund. Shaktar were fantastic in the group stages. They did well where the group included the defending Champs Chelsea and Italian giants Juventus. Quite keen to see how William fares, seems like a good footballer.

Dortmund on the other hand were in the group of death, consisting of the English Champions Manchester City, Spanish champions Real Madrid and Dutch champions Ajax. Before the start of the season I expected Ajax to finish in the bottom two, but surprisingly, they topped it. Although, they aren't doing that well in the German league, but they seem to have set their sights on gaining Champions League glory this season.

Milan vs Barcelona is another big club match. Messi scoring in almost every game, Barcelona topping the group stages, and Barcelona just dropping 2 points all season in the LaLiga, Barcelona seem favorites again.

Arsenal play Bayern Munich. With Arsenal struggling in the league, losing their goal scoring machine Van Persie to Manchester United has created distress among the Arsenal faithfully, some even prompting Wenger to resign. On the other hand, Bayern are enjoying themselves in the German league. Although there seems little doubt that Bayern will go through, Arsenal can still put a challenge with the signing of some good players.

For the remaining ties I pick Schalke, Juventus, PSG and Porto to go through

Roberto Di Matteo sacked. Are Chelsea becoming a laughing stock?

Have to say, it's really sad times for Chelsea. Surrounded by racism allegations against the club captain John Terry, who was banned for 4 matches by the English FA, then in the match against Manchester United, Chelsea were caught in a spat with the referee and even alleging the referee of racial abuse towards John Obi Mikel and Juan Mata, though nothing has been proved against the referee Mar Clattenburg. Juan Mata even saying he never heard a thing. And in more recent news, Chelsea have sacked their manager Roberto Di Matteo after a string of bad perfornances

Roberto Di Matteo's time a Chelsea (4th March - 21 Nov 2012)
Matches - 42
Won       - 24
Draw      - 9
Lost        - 9
Win %    - 57.14

So, Roberto Di Matteo has lasted for 262 days, which is more than that of past Chelsea managers, namely Villas-Boas (256), Grant (247) & Scolari (223)

Is it a wise decision?
As we all know, it is the club owner Roman Abramovich who makes all the major decision. Let's not forget that Di Matteo came at Chelsea when they weren't doing that well. Somehow Di Matteo managed to get the required results and achieved something that not even Jose Mourinho could achieve at the club, that is, to win the Champions League. In addition to that he even won the FA Cup. It ended as a satisfactory season for the blues last season thanks to Di Matteo.

Considering the current season, Chelsea sit in 3rd position in the League with only 4 points off the leaders Manchester City. Surely that is not that bad after only 12 games into the season. In the Champions League, nothing's over as yet. They need to win the final group game and there is a huge possibility that Shaktar will beat Juventus at their home stadium. If that happens then Chelsea go through. As of the League cup, they just knocked of Manchester United out of it.

Honestly, nothing was going that bad. Chelsea are in it in every competition. They made a wrong decision years ago when they sacked the fan favorite Jose Mourinho. They made a bad decision again. Sacking managers mid-season isn't good for any club. It disrupts the stability and the season starts going haywire. 

The only reason I see for the sacking of Di Matteo is the recent form, that is, the last 8 games, when in they lost 4 and drawn 2, winning only 2 games, and also cause they think they are in danger of going out of the Champions League after losing to Juventus 3-0. Even Manchester United and Manchester City were out of the Champions League at the group stage. They didn't sack their respective managers as they have realized it only harms the teams. Honestly, I wish Di Matteo had been given a little more time.

Successor?
Recently, with Chelsea's bad form in the light, many reports suggested that Pep Guardiola could join Chelsea as he is still unemployed. Other reports even suggests the former Liverpool manager Benitez to be the next Chelsea manager, but I'm not sure if that will happen. Not to forget our very own Jose Mourinho. Jose stated many times that he would love to manage a Premier League team again. Many look at him as a successor for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, but he recently did mention that he would love to play against SAF again instead of replacing him. With SAF still looking good at Manchester United, I think the only option for Mourinho is to join another Premier League team. And here another opportunity beckons with the Chelsea managerial spot up for grabs. I'm sure Chelsea fans wouldn't mind him getting back at Stamford Bridge. Apart from these well know managers I can't see anyone else who can show that caliber for the tedious job. But you never can predict anything in football. It always surprises you.

Chelsea out of the Champions League? Here are the possibilities..

Before Tuesday night games were played out, everything seemed good for Chelsea with 7 points, Shaktar Donetsk also with 7 points, and Juventus win 6 points. Little did footballing fans know how the table would turn out to be after the round 5 matches were played.

With focus on the Juventus-Chelsea game in Turin, it seemed to go well for Chelsea in the first half, until Fabio Quagliarella scored for Juventus in the 38th min. It was a well deserved lead as Juventus did look sharp all game. So it ended 1-0 to Juventus in the first half. With the commencement of the second half, hopes of all the few Chelsea fans who traveled to the Juventus stadium were dashed when Vidal scored to make it 2-0. A deflected goal, but nevertheless Vidal was one of the brightest players on the field. And with now way back for Chelsea, Sebastian Giovinco made it 3-0 in injury time and the match ended 3-0 much to the disappointment of the Chelsea supporters.

Looking at the stats, Chelsea did have more possession  than Juventus overall, with 55% of the ball, although Chelsea were slow on the ball, and therefore lacked the cutting edge. Juventus had a bulk of shots on target with over 12 shots, while Chelsea had a mere 2 shots on target. So, once again it is proved that no matter how much possession, doesn't mean you'd score the goals. Chelsea proved it last season against Barcelona in the Champions League final, and now Juventus against Chelsea themselves.

In the other match, Shaktar vs Nordsjælland, Shaktar won 5-2 but were criticized for scoring a goal from a drop ball situation, where a Shaktar player was to pass the ball back to the opposition goalkeeper, but just before the ball could reach the goalkeeper, a Shaktar player collected the ball and put it in the back of the net. No fair play, huh?

So, this is how it stands in the group

Group Table

Club                         P    G    W    D    L    GD
Shakhtar Donetsk    10      5    3     1    1      5
Juventus                   9      5    2     3     0     7
Chelsea FC               7     5    2     1     2      1
FC Nordsjælland       1      5    0     1     4    -13

So, the question is what can we expect on the final day of the Champions League group stage?

It's Chelsea vs FC Nordsjælland at Stamford Bridge and Shaktar Donetsk vs Juventus at the Donbass Arena. With Chelsea playing at home and Nordsjælland with only 1 point from 5 Champions League games. Fans could expect a Chelsea win. Although in the other group game, it's much more tighter.

The Permutations

So,if Chelsea want to progress further, they must win. 

a) If Chelsea win, and Juventus & Shaktar draw.

Shaktar   - 11 points

Juventus -  10 points

Chelsea  - 10 points

Shaktar and Juventus qualify, unless Chelsea beat Nordsjælland by 7 goals to get a better GD than Juventus, then Shaktar and Chelsea qualify

b) If Chelsea win, and also Shaktar win vs Juventus.

Shaktar   - 13 points

Chelsea  - 10 points

Juventus  - 9 points

Shaktar and Chelsea qualify

c) If Chelsea win, and also Shaktar lose vs Juventus.

Juventus - 12 points

Shaktar   - 10 points

Chelsea  - 10 points

Juventus qualify. Depending on how many goals Chelsea beat Nordsjælland and by how many goals Shaktar lose, Chelsea or Shaktar qualify

d) If Chelsea draw or lose their game, inevitably, Shaktar and Juventus qualify.