Champions League Draw: Beckham to face United; Mourinho gets Chelsea

Published by William | Filed under Champions League, Football (aka soccer)

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The draw for the first knockout stage of the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League were made Friday and to the likes of fans across Europe, we’ve got plenty of story lines to go along with the upcoming fixtures.


Probably the most notable of the anticipated matchups is that of Manchester United and AC Milan, which will see David Beckham return to Old Trafford, the place where he made himself a household name, for the first time since signing with Real Madrid in 2003. It will certainly be an exciting and likely emotional affair when Becks makes his return. He was loved, and still is, by the United Nation and it will be nice to see the warm welcome that most would expect.


The other “reunion” match that we will see is when Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho faces Chelsea. Mourinho is heralded as a hero at Stamford Bridge for bringing the Blues their first Premiership title in nearly 50 years in 2005 and repeating again in 2006. (Read news article here).


Aside from the hollywood story lines, there are still some interesting fixtures to be had actually regarding football. Here are the winners and losers from Friday’s draw:


Winners:


1. Arsenal – The Gunners are paired with Porto, a team they faced a few times in recent years so they should be familiar with them.


2. Barcelona – Not that it really matters who they play, but Barca probably got one of the weaker teams. Should be smooth sailing for the defending champs.


3. Real Madrid – Same as Barcelona. Shouldn’t be a problem for the much more talented side but then again, Real has continued to amaze me with their inconsistency. Still, I expect this to be fairly easy for Los Galacticos.


Losers:


1. Manchester United – I almost think this thing is rigged for both United and Chelsea. Milan has been great lately and with all this “Beckham” nonsense, I wouldn’t want to play them.


2. Chelsea – Again, rigged. Tabloids must love these matchups. Inter is one of the few teams that could give Chelsea trouble, especially since Mourinho knows them so well. I wouldn’t like this matchup if I were them.


3. Fiorentina – After looking so good in the group stages, they got paired with probably the hottest team in the entire competition. If Bayern has everyone healthy, including Ribery, look out.