Champions League Last 16 Draw 2015

After the conclusion to the group stage last Wednesday the draw has been made in Switzerland for the last 16.

PSG v Chelsea

It's a rematch of last year's quarter final where Mourinho's Chelsea meet Blanc's PSG. Chelsea will be quietly confident, particularly with rumours about an upset dressing room in Paris. Chelsea will aim to eradicate the mistakes made in the match last year and with Costa in fine form I expect him to find away past Luiz and Silva in the heart of the Parisian's defence. Facing his former side, Chelsea will certainly know the weaknesses of David know and will hope to exploit them. At John Terry at the heart of Chelsea's defence, I can't see Ibra getting the better of him. Edinson Cavani has talent but he has been far too inconsistent at PSG, but if he turns up, he could steal the show from Chelsea. PSG will be up for the match, they need to be. Having spent hundreds of millions on players over the past few years, they will be hoping for a better run than previous campaigns.

Man City v Barcelona

It's a crunch tie and one that City will be relishing and they'll want revenge for their exit last year. I believe two factors will decide the outcome of the game and that's Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero, if they're both fit, then they stand as good a chance as anyone to turn Barcelona over. Obviously, they will be focusing on how to prevent the Catalonian strike force from firing and it will take their defenders at the best to do so. When Kompany is out of the team, the defence looks vulnerable, particularly as Mangala can be quite eccentric at times and Demichelis is lacking in pace. Up front, Aguero can rip any defence to shreds on his day, and he will be backing his qualities to get joy from a Barca defence that are susceptible to mishaps at times. City will need to play smart football and be tactically astute, something which I've been critical of Manuel Pellegrini. They can proceed, but only if Kompany and Aguero are available to play.

Arsenal v Monaco

Arsene Wenger returns to his former club for the first time since he left 18 years ago. Monaco have been struggling in the league this year and are evidently feeling the consequences of selling James Rodriguez to Real Madrid and letting Radamel Falcao go on loan to Manchester United. Wenger will be looking to exploit the lack of pace in Monaco's defence, through Danny Welbeck, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez. Arsenal will have to contend with the pace of exciting young attacker, Lucas Ocampos down the flanks and former Spurs player Dimitar Berbatov, who is capable of producing something out of nothing. Surging runs from Geoffrey Kondogbia will need to be tracked, and this may exploit Arsenal's lack of a defensive midfielder. Even with Arsenal's defensive frailties, I still expect them to have too much strength for the principality, providing they do not pick up many injuries between now and then.

Schalke v Real Madrid

Last year Cristiano Ronaldo scored 4 goals in the 2 legs against Schalke, contributing to a 6-1 romp in Gelsenkirchen. Admittedly, I don't know too much about Schalke, only that they have an exciting youth academy and that they produce talented youngsters such as Julian Draxler and Max Meyer. Currently sitting in sixth position, I don't forecast them troubling the Champions League holders. Madrid should have enough strength to brush off the challenge of the side from Gelsenkirchen. 

Shakhtar v Bayern.

Our final look is at Pep Guardiola's Bayern. Shakhtar possess some lively players such as the ably named Brazilian winger Bernard as well Alex Texeira, Fred, Douglas Costa and Taison, not to mention the veteran, Darijo Srna. On the other hand, Bayern have a solid but slow defence so they cannot play a high line up against some of Shakhtar's pacey players. Even for the German champions, Ukraine will be a tough place to go to but in true Guardiola fashion, Bayern will dominate the proceedings and comfortably win at home.

All the first leg ties will be played on either the 17th-18th or 24th-25th February while the return legs will be played  10th-11th or 17th-18th March.