The National's Sport cover for the Tuesday, December 16 issue, featuring a breakdown of each of the eight ties that will cut the Champions League field down from 16 entrants.
Ian Hawkey offers a brief analysis of each pairing, offering notes like:
“Madrid thrashed Schalke 9-2 on aggregate in Germany in the last-16 last season, in what was a festival for the so-called ‘BBC’ strike force, Benzema, Bale and Cristiano. If anything, Madrid now look stronger.”
Of Chelsea, he writes: “Chelsea have several reasons to believe they are in stronger position now than they were last March.”
For a further look at the faces that will figure most prominently in the first knockout round, we've posted this gallery as well.
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