Champions League Draw: England against Italy

All Italian clubs get drawn against the English Premier League

Today in Nyon, Switzerland the first knockout round in this years Champions League was drawn and as always, there are some really classic football clashes coming up in the round of the last 16 survivors. For example, ALL three Italian teams have been drawn against english sides ! Chelsea will take on Juventus Turin, it`s AS Rome against Arsenal London and finally there`s a real heavyweight fight between Inter Milan and reigning champion Manchester United !

FC Liverpool as the fourth English team also has quite a challenge coming up with opponent Real Madrid from Spain. Also Villareal will take on the Greeks of Panathinaikos Athens, Sporting Lisbon and Bayern Munich will battle it out, it`s Spain against neighbor Portugal in the match Atlético Madrid against FC Porto and Olympique Lyon from France will go for a stunning upset against FC Barcelona.

All the matchups in the round of the last 16:

Chelsea FC (England) against Juventus (Italy)
Villarreal CF (Spain) vs Panathinaikos FC (Greece)
Sporting Lisbon (Portugal) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain) vs FC Porto (Portugal)
Olympique Lyonnais (France) vs FC Barcelona (Spain)
Real Madrid CF (Spain) vs Liverpool FC (England)
Arsenal FC (England) against AS Roma (Italy)
FC Internazionale Milano (Italy) vs Manchester United FC (England)

The games will be played on February 24/25 and March 10/11. The 8 group winners will have the little advantage to host the second game at home.

Ladbrokes as one of the leading UK football bookmakers currently favors FC Barcelona to win it all at 7/2, Chelsea and ManU are tied at second with 5/1, Inter Milan is 8/1, while FC Liverpool is offered at 10/1. Here are all the odds on winning the Champions League in 2009: