An absolutely fascinating Champions League draw

When the 2009-2010 Champions League restarts next year then there promises to be two huge ties that also involve sentimental returns for two very popular figures. Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan meet Chelsea in one of the stand out ties of the last 16 and this sees Jose Mourinho travelling back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg.

Seeing as Mourinho knows the Chelsea players like the back of his hand, this could be a very difficult tie for Chelsea and probably the worst draw that they could have had out of all of the teams that they could have drawn.

As group winners of course then they couldn’t play Barcelona, Real Madrid or the other two English teams. For me, Chelsea have had the worst possible draw although they will be looking forward to the tie. If you want to win any cup competition then what you really don’t want is to have to play the top sides in every round and starting the last 16 with a tie like this must have lengthened Chelsea’s odds of winning it and the latest football betting odds will show that.

So it seems that Chelsea have been unlucky again. I am sure that some of the so called experts will spout on about how you have to beat the best teams eventually anyway, while this is true it cannot be argued against that if you really want to win this competition that you really don’t want to have to play top sides in every round to do so.

There also appears to have been some ill feeling between Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho as well from when Ancelotti was boss at AC Milan so this should add some extra spice to the tie. Speaking of AC Milan, if he is match fit then David Beckham could be returning to Old Trafford as AC Milan have drawn Manchester United in the other huge fixture.

Manchester United last played AC Milan in the Champions League in the semi-finals in 2007 when they lost 5-3 on aggregate. I recall watching those games and United won the first leg at Old Trafford 3-2 but were outgunned 3-0 in the San Siro. Holders Barcelona face German side Stuttgart in what should be a rather straight forward win for them over the two legs although I am sure that Stuttgart will make it tough in the first leg in Germany.

I think now that with the top two English sides getting tough games and Barcelona and Real Madrid getting relatively straight forward ties in Stuttgart and Lyon respectively then they will rightly be installed as the top two favourites for the competition now and rightly so.

While Lyon and Stuttgart are to be respected, you would have to say that both Real Madrid and Barcelona would be deeply disappointed to lose out to these two teams who in all fairness are not really expected to go all the way. I am really looking forward to these ties and the sports betting section on bwin is going to be really buzzing for the next Champions League week.

Carl “The Dean” Sampson