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

Ballon D'or?

The Ballon D'or literally means 'Golden Ball'. Its inception was in the year 1956. The award was conceived by France Football's chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, who asked his colleagues to vote for the player of the year in Europe in 1956. Hence at that time this award was only presented to European players playing for a European club and hence players of Non-European nations were ineligible for this award. This however was changed in the year 1995 when it allowed non-European players to be eligible for the award if they played for a European club. While later in the year 2007 any player in the world became eligible for this award. Another noticeable thing is that the selection is done by football journalists

The first person to win the Ballon D'or was an English footballer Stanley Matthews who played for Blackpool. After the rule change in the year which allowed Non-European players to be eligible, it was a Liberian player George Weah who won the Ballon D'or while playing for AC Milan. Three players have won the award three times each - Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten. The last Premier League player to win the FIFA Ballon D'or was Michael Owen

Later in the year 2010, Ballon D'or and FIFA player of the year were merged, and came to be known as the FIFA Ballon D'or. Leo Messi became the inaugural winner and won it again in the following year. The FIFA Ballon D'or for 2012 is scheduled for January 7th, 2013 in Kongresshaus, Zurich (Switzerland)

Like every year, 23 player shortlist is made. The shortlist for the 2012 FIFA Ballon D'or includes -

Sergio Aguero (Manchester City/Argentina), 

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Mario Balotelli (Manchester City/Italy), 

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid/France), 

Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus/Italy),

Sergio Busquets (Barcelona/Spain), 

Iker Casillas (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), 

Didier Drogba (Shanghai Shenhua/Ivory Coast), 

Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid/Colombia), 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain/Sweden), 

Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), 

Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina), 

Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich/Germany), 

Neymar (Santos/Brazil), 

Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid/Germany), 

Gerard Pique (Barcelona/Spain), 

Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy), 

Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid/Spain), 

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United/England), 

Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast), 

Robin van Persie (Manchester United/Netherlands), 

Xavi (Barcelona/Spain)

Neymar and Drogba are the only players playing for a Non-European club in the shortlist, while Yaya Toure and Didier Drogba the only Africans that make the shortlist. Gianluigi Buffon and Manuel Neuer are the only goalkeepers that make the shortlist. Rooney, the only player representing England, while the same applies to Van Persie win Nederlands
So, what do you make of this?