Possible Champions League Matchups

Champions League groups stage has ended, and unfortunately the minnows that started off strong (Anorthosis, Cluj etc) did not make it through. The Round of 16 draw will be done this coming Friday, December 19th, but it's never too early to make some predictions.

First place teams will be drawn to play a second place team, but they can not play against a team from their own country.

My Ideal Matchups (First place team listed first):

Panathinaikos (Greece) v. Sporting Lisbon (Portugal):

Two solid teams, plus I want to see the big boys go up against each other

FC Porto (Portugal) v. Villareal (Spain):
Two teams that may not have the star names that the bigger clubs have, but they can compete. Lucho Gonzalez is solid for Porto and Villareal continues to grow and stay among Spain and Europe's elite.

AS Roma (Italy) v. Arsenal (England): Arsenal is struggling but they still play some nice soccer (they just need to learn to finish) and AS Roma is coming up strong now that Francesco Totti has recovered from his injury.

Bayern Munech (Germany) v. Atletico Madrid (Spain):
Ribery v. Aguero. Two teams with great offensive power. Klose, Toni, Ribery with Maxi Rodriguez, Aguero, Forlan. Fireworks guaranteed.

Liverpool FC (England) v. Real Madrid (Spain):
The history is unbelievable. 14 Champions League Titles, 26 International Titles. Torres and Higuian are some of the best strikers in the world at the moment. Interesting to see if Casillas would get the better of his countryman Torres. And how Gerrard and Mascherano fair against Guti, Gago, Sneijder and Real Madrid's midfield.

Barcelona FC (Spain) v. Lyon (France):
Lyon is not what they used to be, but still have a nice attacking style of football, which would give us a nice back and forth affair...if Messi doesn't win the series in the first 45 minutes.

Manchester United (England) v. Inter Milan (Italy):
Mourinho v. Sir Alex. Ibrahimovic v. Rio Ferdinand. Great matchup if the good Inter Milan show up, but they have been a bit inconsistent and somehow managed only second place in what was supposed to be an easy group.

Juventus (Italy) v. Chelsea (England):
Chelsea looking to finally get that elusive Champions League title, while Alessandro Del Piero seems to have gone back in time as he is in incredible form with Juventus.

Sadly, that's only what I hope. We'll probably end up with some more Liverpool/Inter, Barca/Chelsea and Man Utd/Lisbon that we've seen already (though I wouldn't mind the first two matchups)