Beckham returns to the Champions League : The only remaining Englishman

With so many of the English teams dominating Europe in the last few years, who would have thought that there would be no English team in the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions League? And you would be more surprised to know that the only Englishman left in Europe's elite cup tournament, is the 37 year old David Beckham.

It was in 2010, when Beckham had last played in the Champions League, when he faced Manchester United at Old Trafford while played for AC Milan, losing 4-0. Since 2010, Beckham moved back to LA Galaxy after his loan spell with AC Milan.

After completing his 5 year long contract with LA Galaxy, he made the long awaited switch back to Europe with the cash-rich Paris Saint Germain in January. Although the didn't play in the Champions League round of 16, after gaining the required fitness his time had come. PSG were scheduled to face Barcelona on the 2nd of April, 2013, and with everybody's eyes on the team sheet, the good news came with Beckham in the starting line up to face Barcelona

It was the time, the whole of the footballing world turned into a PSG fan base. Yeah! Just to support Beckham. Well, at least that's what it seemed on most of the social networking sites. After more than 2 years out of the Champions League, he did quite a good job in midfield for PSG, although he played in a slightly different role in defensive midfield and with some pin point passing, he did show he is still Champions League quality. Had a decent first half but as the game went  into the second half, his legs gave away and was substituted in the 70th min.

Although most of the footballing world thought it was a decent performance, one of France's leading sports newspaper didn't think so. L'Equipe gave Beckham a rating of 3/10. Saying his selection was a gamble and surprise. No one really cared as every footballing fan was happy to see Beckham back in the Champions League.

With Beckham back in Europe's elite competition, there are talks going on of Beckham being included back in the England squad, and considering the current quality of the England squad, Beckham could be give a try, and why not?

Former manager Alex Ferguson said that he "practised with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn't care about." Well, that's the reason he's back at the center stage.

Beckham's Champions League stats

Manchester United

Played - 85

Goals - 15

Real Madrid

Played - 28

Goals - 2

AC Milan

Played - 2

Goals - 0

PSG

Played - 1

Goals - 0

Total played - 116

Total goals - 18

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

Rafael Benitez is back.. with Chelsea

I don't know whether it's good news or bad news, but it's confirmed that the former Champions League winner with Liverpool, Rafael Benitez has been appointed as the next manager at Chelsea. The contract is an 18-month long one, which allows Benitez to stay with the defending Champions in the Champions League till the end of next season.

From what reactions of the fans and pundits is that most of the weren't happy with Benitez's appointment, especially the Chelsea fans, who were over-ambitious in the prospect of landing a bigger manager.

Pep Guardiola was also tipped to become the next Chelsea manager. But it is reported that he turned down the Chelsea offer. Her is what his agent had to say "Pep Guardiola will not decide anything before January. I was with him in New York a fortnight ago and he told me that until January or February he will not decide if he is going to go back to coaching and which team he will choose."

He continued: "It does not matter what happens [in the meantime], before that period he will not make any decision about any club or national team."
He added: "Pep will make the decision himself, he has the personality to do that. He is with his family right now, resting, reading, enjoying his hobbies, watching football and in January he will start to think about what team he could be at next season."

So did Benitez say regarding his appointment? "I think it's a top side who want to challenge for trophies. We will think about one game at a time so we'll just try to win the next game." Regarding fans protest, he said, "The fans all want the same thing as the manager - and that's to win games."

Benitez profile
Born - Madrid, Spain
Age  - 52
Teams managed - 
1994–1995    Real Madrid B
1995–1996    Real Valladolid
1996–1997    Osasuna
1997–1999    Extremadura
2000–2001    Tenerife
2001–2004    Valencia
2004–2010    Liverpool
2010             Internazionale

Win percentage (Major clubs)
Valencia         - 53.37%
Liverpool         - 55.43%
Internazionale - 48%

Achievements (Major clubs)
Valencia         - 2 La Liga titles, 1 UEFA Cup
Liverpool         - 1 UEFA Champions League, 1 FA Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup
Internazionale - 1 SuperCoppa, 1 FIFA Club World Cup