CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: See Which Club Your Club Could Face In the Next Round

With the 16 teams now confirmed for the first knockout round, we take a look at how the draw could shape up. The line-up for the last 16 in the Champions League was confirmed on Wednesday and all the clubs will be eagerly awaiting Monday's draw in Nyon.
There will be two pots: one with the group winners and another with the teams who came second.
No team can play a club from their group or any side from their own association.

Group Winners

Real Madrid - can play: Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk

Atletico Madrid - can play: Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk

Barcelona - can play: Juventus, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Manchester City, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk

Monaco - can play: Juventus, Basel, Arsenal, Manchester City, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk

Borussia Dortmund - can play: Juventus, Basel, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk

Bayern Munich - can play: Juventus, Basel, Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk

Chelsea - can play: Juventus, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk

Porto - can play: Juventus, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Arsenal, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Schalke

Runners-up

Juventus - can play: Real Madrid, Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto

Basel - can play: Atlético Madrid, Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto

Bayer Leverkusen - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto

Arsenal - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Porto

Manchester City - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Porto

Paris Saint-Germain - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern, Chelsea, Porto

Schalke - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco, Barcelona, Porto

Shakhtar Donetsk - can play: Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Monaco, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea

Seeded group winners will be away in the round of 16 first legs on 17/18 and 24/25 February and at home in the return matches on 10/11 and 17/18 March.
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MERCILES MESSI: Lionel Messi delighted to break UEFA Champions League scoring record

Lionel Messi reflected on breaking the UEFA Champions League goal scoring record as "a wonderful thing" after his hat-trick against APOEL.
The prolific Barcelona forward surpassed Real Madrid legend Raul's tally of 71 goals by scoring his second hat-trick in as many games on Tuesday.

Messi took centre stage after Luis Suarez netted his first Barca goal as the Catalan giants coasted to a 4-0 Group F victory in Nicosia.

The mercurial Messi became the top scorer in La Liga history with a treble in a 5-1 hammering of Sevilla on Saturday and the Argentina talisman revelled in his latest milestone.

"Achieving this record in a competition like this is a wonderful thing. But, beyond that it was a very important game," said Messi, who now has 74 Champions League goals.

Luis Enrique's side face French champions Paris Saint-Germain at Camp Nou next month knowing a win would ensure they finish top of the group and Messi is determined to achieve that goal.

He added: "It will be a tough game against PSG.

"They have very good players and they're growing.

"We'll try to win the group."

Retrieved from Pulseng

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UCL HIGHLIGHTS: Benfica sent packing from Champions League

A late goal by Portuguese international winger Danny has given Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg a crucial 1-0 win against Benfica in the Champions League.Danny, formerly of Sporting Lisbon, struck 11 minutes from the end of a hard-fought encounter on Thursday to keep the Russian side in the running to qualify for the last 16 for the second season in succession and end Benfica's hopes of advancing from Group C.

Regardless of the outcome of Thursday's other Group C game between Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in Germany, Zenit know that a win in Monaco in their final game next month will take them through to the knock-out stage.

The best Benfica can now aim for, though, is third place and qualification for the Europa League, in which they have reached the final in each of the last two seasons.

But even that will be a forlorn hope if Monaco win against Leverkusen.

In a game of few chances, the Portuguese champions had the best opening of the first half when Nicolas Gaitan concluded a great run down the left by crossing to the back post for Eduardo Salvio, whose shot was well saved by Yuri Lodygin.

Zenit created little of note and lost both Nicolas Lombaerts and Javi Garcia to injury but Andre Villas-Boas's side never gave up and were rewarded with the winning goal in the 79th minute.

Brazilian forward Hulk, who like his coach Villas-Boas is formerly of Porto, delivered a cross from the right to the near post for his captain Danny, who followed up a superb run with a fine volleyed finish past Julio Cesar.

A disappointing night for Benfica ended in miserable fashion as captain Luisao was sent off in stoppage time after being shown a second yellow card.
Read more at: Watoday

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MAN CITY Did It On Bayern For The Second Consecutive Year [MAN CITY 3-2 BAYERN]

Manchester City’s Champions league hopes were kept alive by a Sergio Aguero hat trick in a dramatic 3-2 victory over 10 -man Bayern Munich at the Etihad.The English Champions were on brink of another early exit in the competition but responded in dramatic fashion in front of their home fans, despite being handed a bit of a lifeline following CSKA Moscow’s 1-1 draw with Roma in Russia, the EPL Champions needed a convincing performance against the German heavy weights who are already through the next round.

Without the power pack of Yaya Toure who got sent off against CSKA and the injured David Silva; that meant nothing short of a victory would do for Manuel Pellegrini’s side and their critics, especially on the subject of their almost perpetual failure in the Champions League.

City took the lead via an Aguero well taken penalty in the 21 minute; the Argentine was brought down by Mehdi Banatiawho was shown a red card for his tackle leaving Bayern reduced to 10 men and manager Pep Guardiola on the re-shuffle taking off Sebastian Rode for Brazilian centre-backDante and it took only 19 minutes for the Bavarians to find an equalizer when Xabi Alonso passed in a low free-kick beyond a static Joe Hart in goal and Robert Lewandowski’s looping header put Bayern 2-1 up just before half-time when he got behind Vincent Kompany and ahead of Bacary Sagna in the City defense.

It looked like it would be another dreadful night-out on the continent for City as they toiled to get the ball off Bayern for most of the second half; possession almost seems natural for any Pep Guardiola tutored side even with a man down. Xabi Alonso – the architect with the pencil to find space to release the likes of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribbery, it was quite obvious which team was in the driving seat though Frank Lampard did force a save off Manuel Neuerwho pushed his canon shot over the cross bar lifting the spirits of the home crowd.

Pellegrini had Stephan Jovetic as replacement for James Milner midway through in the second period and sent inPablo Zabaleta for Sagna minutes later, the Bayern bench also played their own cards in the final 10 minutes introducing Bastian Schweinsteiger and Xherdan Shaqiri. The impact intended by Guardiola from both subs begs for questioning and had little time to materialize when the infallible Xabi Alonso’s stray pass got intercepted by Joveticin the middle of the park and picked up by Sergio Aguerowho ran clear to calmly finish off to draw City level at 2-2 in the 86 minute.

The home side had renewed hope and they sensed blood to get an unlikely victory sealed by Aguero who got his hat trick showing great composure in front of goal to beat Neuer after pouncing on some sloppy defending from Jerome Boateng.

It wasn’t the first time we saw City snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, the joyous Etihad home fans will never forget that famous day in May 2012 - the final day of the season when that same man – Sergio Aguero, smashed home the winning goal against QPR that gave Manchester City their first title in 44 years. Memories of the score line of that faithful triumph read 3-2, perhaps leaving a sense about the way City like to get things done – The hard way, the only way, and they’ve become quite accustomed to it.

So far Aguero has netted 12 goals for City this season in the Premier league and has now scored 11 goals in 11 Champions League appearances since the start of last season. But is he City’s only player?

Judging on goal scoring form, then yes; he is their only man up front with Edin Dzeko out injured and one you can count on, at the back the struggle continues to find a perfect pairing with Captain Vincent Kompany and in midfield Yaya Toure sometimes has his off days and they desperately need the return of David Silva.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side now third in the group and tied on 5 points with second placed Roma and CSKA Moscowmust get a victory against the Italians on the December 10 in Rome if they are to move to knock stage for second time in the clubs history while Bayern will be comfortable to welcome the Russians to the Allianz Arena.
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MERCILESS MESSI: Barcelona Forward Breaks Yet Another Record [MUST READ]

Barcelona Forward, Lionel Messi became the all time Champions League highest goalscorer while Luis Suarez opened his scores sheet for Barcelona as the Catalan giants hammered APOEL Nicosia 4-0.Suarez put Barca ahead with his first Barca goal  since his huge £64million summer move from Liverpool before Messi wowed the travelling fans with a stunning hat-trick - all taken with his less-dominant right foot.

The first goal saw him break former Real Madrid striker Raul's tally of 71 champions league goals to make the Argentina superstar the leading scorer in the competition's history.

It was another notable scoring record that Messi had broken in the space of three days, with the 27-year-old having also become the all-time leading La liga goal scorer at the weekend with his hat-trick against Sevilla.

That treble moved Messi onto 253 La Liga goals and broke Telmo Zarra's 59-year-old mark of 251.

As well as being a memorable night for Messi and Suarez, the victory keeps Barcelona in with a chance of pipping Paris St Germain to top spot in Group F.

Both teams had already qualified for the last 16 but PSG stayed a point clear of Barca with their win over Ajax.

Messi moved level with Raul's European record with a brace in Barca's previous match at Ajax, and he could have broken it inside three minutes on Tuesday only to see APOEL goalkeeper Rafael Urko do well to block his effort.

Messi was running the show early on and he set up good chances for Suarez and Jordi Alba, neither of which were taken.

It was Suarez who made the breakthrough, though, and in the process get on the scoresheet for the first time in Barcelona colours.

The Uruguay international created the chance with a superb bit of skill to turn his marker on the edge of the box and he beat Urko with a side-footed finish, albeit with the aid of a deflection.

That was in the 27th minute, and 11 minutes later Messi made it 2-0 and secured himself yet another spot in the history books when he stuck out his right foot to deflect Rafinha's shot into the net.

Dominant Barca picked up where they left off after the break and Pedro Rodriguez almost made it 3-0 with a low drive in the 51st minute.

A third goal was not much longer in arriving, however, with Messi moving onto 73 Champions League goals in 91 games when he picked up Dani Alves' pinpoint pass into the area and dinked a shot in off the far post.

Further Barca goals looked on the cards, but it was actually APOEL who came closest to netting next with a Tomas de Vincenti effort that produced a superb one-handed save by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The home side then received a further boost when Barca forward Rafinha was shown a second yellow card with 20 minutes to go, but the dismissal did little to change the flow of the game with Luis Enrique's visitors still looking to attack.

Suarez was denied his second by the feet of Urko before APOEL lost their numerical advantage when Joao Guilherme picked up his second booking for a foul on Pedro in the 84th minute.

All that was left after that was for Messi to notch up yet another hat-trick, the Barca captain knocking home Pedro's cut-back to cap a record-breaking evening for the Catalan outfit.

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Arsenal without Olivier Giroud for Champions League ties

Olivier Giroud will miss both of Arsenal's remaining Champions League group matches after the the club failed to include the striker on their original squad list.

Olivier Giroud will miss both of Arsenal's remaining Champions League group matches after the club made the mistake of not including the striker on their original squad list.

Giroud injured his ankle against Everton in August and was not expected to return until the New Year, after all the group fixtures had taken place.

Clubs can register just 25 players on their 'A List' for the group matches, which must be submitted by September 2 and include eight home-grown names - a list Giroud was not included on.

Arsenal, however, need just one point from their remaining two games to make it through to the the knock-out stages and the 28-year-old Frenchman could be included for the rest of the competition, with the next squad list due on February 3.

Arsene Wenger's side, who are currently five points off top spot, host group leaders Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night, before finishing with a trip to Turkish outfit Galatasaray, who they beat 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium last month.

Giroud, meanwhile, made his first-team return in Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Manchester United, coming off the bench in the 77th-minute to grab the late consolation goal.

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