All four English clubs have advanced through to the UEFA Champions League knockout round, and while Manchester United and Liverpool face very tough tasks of going through to the round of eight, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur have a more favorable path to the promised land.
The UCL knockout round draw was staged just a few hours ago and in the tweet below you will find the entire list of all the European round of 16 fixtures.
Spectacular. The round of 16 draw ?
Most exciting tie? #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/ZjUBmvLwVl
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 17, 2018
Three of the four round of 16 ties featuring England have a German opponent. Tottenham Hotspur will go against Borussia Dortmund while Manchester City got FC Schalke and Liverpool drew Bayern Munich.
For Mauricio Pochettino and company, Dortmund looks like a good match-up on paper, given how they beat BVB both home and away in last season’s group stage. Tottenham may have barely qualified for this round, but they’re here now and you got to like their odds for the round of eight.
Speaking of favorable odds, City have a UCL tie that is, arguably, a match-up of the most talented and deep side in the field versus the overall least. FC Schalke are struggling mightily in the Bundesliga and shouldn’t provide too much of a resistance for Pep Guardiola and company.
Of course, this is just on paper, and as we all know, on the actual pitch can be a very different story.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.