Anglo-Italian showdowns set for UEFA Champions League

• by Soccer America , Dec 22, 2008

[DATEBOOK] Defending champion Manchester United was drawn with Italian champion Inter Milan in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, setting up a meeting between old nemeses Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho, formerly the coach of Chelsea and now the boss of Inter Milan.

Chelsea, last season's Champions League runner-up, will face Juventus, while Arsenal will meet Roma to set up three Anglo-Italian series.

Meanwhile, Liverpool, the fourth English team still alive, was drawn with nine-time champion Real Madrid.

Jozy Altidore's Villarreal looks to have a chance at passage to the quarterfinals thanks to its draw with Panathinaikos of Greece.

Americans Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan (Aston Villa) and Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege) are still alive in the UEFA Cup. Villa faces CSKA Moscow, while Standard meets Ukraine's Metalist Kharkiv. (If Onyewu moves to French club Marseille, as rumored, he'd be ineligible for to play for Marseille, which faces Twente in the round of 32.)

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE (Round of 16):
Chelsea vs. Juventus
Villarreal vs. Panathinaikos
Sporting Lisbon vs. Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid vs. FC Porto
Lyon vs. Barcelona
Real Madrid vs. Liverpool
Arsenal vs. Roma
Inter Milan vs. Manchester United

UEFA CUP (Round of 32):
Paris St. Germain vs. Wolfsburg
FC Copenhagen vs. Manchester City
NEC vs. Hamburg
Sampdoria vs. Metalist Kharkiv
Braga  vs. Standard Liege
Aston Villa vs. CSKA Moscow
Lech Poznan vs. Udinese
Olympiakos vs. St. Etienne
Fiorentina vs. Ajax
AaB Aalborg vs. Deportivo Coruna
Werder Bremen   vs. AC Milan
Bordeaux  vs. Galatasaray
Dynamo Kiev vs. Valencia
Zenit St. Petersburg vs. VfB Stuttgart
Marseille vs. Twente
Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Tottenham