The draw for the knock out phase is on this coming Friday.

Since things are pretty quiet around here, I may as well start
a "preview".

The draw will pit teams that advanced from the group phase in first
place against those that advanced in 2nd place, and a team cannot
face another team that advanced from the same group.

First place teams (from group A to H):
Chelsea; Bayern; Liverpool; Valencia; Lyon; ManU; Arsenal; Milan.

Second place teams:
Barca; Inter; PSV; Roma; Real Madrid; Celtic; Porto; Lille.

Milan advanced as group winners on 10 points. With the same 10
points, Werder Bremen are relegated to the UEFA Cup competition. I
am damned sure Bremen would have advanced from Hamburg's group, and
the sorry Hamburg would be dead whether drawn in the Group of Death
or not. That says all about the luck of the draw.
(O/T: German teams need all the positive results they can get, as
Germany faces the real possibility of losing another CL spot. Of
course, Bremen winning the UEFA Cup would help Germany's cause.
;-) )

Various forums are abuzzed with hopes, wishes and predictions for the
draw. Barca is by far the team every 1st place team want to avoid.
Lille, Portal and Celtic are what the fans are praying to get.
(Milan, of course, can't get Lille again.) IMHO, while PSV continue
to be weakened year after year, they are still a pretty tough team to
beat. A year ago, I'd have welcome Real Madrid. But with Cappelo
there, and the end of the Galactico system, I am not sure how much I
want them now. (I know, Cappelo's expertise lies in the domestic
league, but still, Real is now a Cappelo team, with all the
charisteristics that entails....) As for Inter and Roma, it depends
on which Inter and which Roma turns up on game day. Of course, in
top form, neither Milan nor Bayern need to fear Inter or Roma, or
even Real Madrid. But we all know what form Milan is in :-
{ ........ And Bayern have not been impressive so far either (but at
least they managed to grind out results while playing like sh!t, in
their good old-fashioned German way).

So the only good news is the knock out phase doesn't start until late
next February (while the bad news is Nesta will likely miss the round
of 16).

Good luck to Milan (and to Bayern ;-) ) in the draw!

Ming