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Highest-level European club football returns. After the winter break, it's time for decisive battles in the UEFA Champions League - 16 clubs, divided into eight pairs, will start their round of 16 matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. EuroFootball.com presents the preview of the first day of the round of 16 matches. Madrid - Turin (Live broadcast from 21:35 via Tango TV) Clubs that have faced each other five times in UEFA tournaments have so far shared victories equally. However, they still have old scores to settle - eight years ago, Real Madrid defeated the Turin club in the tournament final, while in the 2002/03 season, Juventus blocked the path to the final for the Madrid opponents. In 17 matches in Spain, Juve has won only twice, while Real has won 19 times out of 23 matches against Italian clubs at home. Although after a particularly unsuccessful previous season, Real's president F. Perez decided to make some changes to his "galacticos" policy by acquiring two defenders, the previous mistakes of only buying stars while unbalancing the team cost the royal club a poor start to the season. During this time, neither J.A. Camacho nor later successor M.G. Remon managed to control the team's play. However, Perez started the new year with an important change - W. Luxemburgo was appointed as head coach, shifting Real in a positive direction, and within a month and a half, they managed to achieve seven straight wins in the league and get closer to leaders Barcelona. However, this successful streak was broken on Saturday as the coach from Brazil decided to give some rest to some of the main players and was punished with a loss against Athletic. Turin's Juventus had been performing quite well lately, starting the season strong with wins both in the Italian championship and the Champions League. However, the team's performance started to deteriorate towards the end of the year, and after two losses this month, Juventus failed to beat the Messina team on Sunday and fell behind the defending champions Milan in the standings. While Juventus did not feel any major warning signs in January, they let go of unnecessary and rarely playing backup defenders to other clubs - I.Tudor, N. Legrottaglie, and M.Iuliano. Real acquired a much-needed defensive midfielder T. Gravesen and sold their dissatisfied former striker F. Morientes, replacing him with another forward J. Portillo. However, the Italian club also registered Romanian A. Mutu for the Champions League, but he will most likely not play this season due to disqualification, so "The Old Lady" practically did not strengthen. In the last month, Fabio Capello's coached team particularly missed the energetic midfielder P. Nedved, who had been injured and was still recovering. The 32-year-old Czech is a true leader of the Turin team, and his return to the lineup should revitalize the struggling Juventus. Juventus will also be without injured O. Kapo and sick D. Trezeguet for their trip to Madrid, and Montero may also miss the match. On the other hand, Real should play with a full lineup, with doubts only about the physical condition of M. Salgado. Probable starting lineups: "Real" (4-4-2): Casillas; Salgado, Helguera, Samuel, Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Gravesen, Figo, Zidane; Raul, Ronaldo. "Juventus" (4-4-2): Buffon; Zebina, Cannavaro, Thuram, Zambrotta; Camoranesi, Emerson, Blasi, Nedved; Del Piero, Ibrahimovic. Munich - London The last time these teams met was in the 2000/01 Champions League season, where Bayern won at home and played a draw away. Overall, Bayern has only lost once to an English club at home in European tournaments, 12 years ago in the UEFA Cup against Norwich, while Arsenal has won twice in Germany and drawn twice, and had a half draw and half loss against them. Before this season, the change in coach at Bayern has gradually paid off, as they finished the 2004 season as Bundesliga champions and remained second in the Champions League group, losing twice to Juventus. After the winter break, the Bavarian club played convincingly at home (two wins), played a draw away, and unexpectedly lost to Bielefeld's Arminia. However, last Saturday, Bayern played impressively, crushing Dortmund's Borussia 5-0 and boosting confidence in their abilities. During this season, things have been difficult for England's champions, London's Arsenal. Having been unbeaten in the league last season, A. Wenger's proteges were successful at the beginning of this season, but after a significant loss to Manchester Utd in the league, they fell behind the leading Chelsea club. Despite not playing very successfully in the Champions League E group, they managed to finish first. Recently, the Londoners defeated one of the Premier League's basement dwellers, Crystal Palace, 5-1, but played a draw with Sheffield United in a cup match over the weekend. Although this pair is considered a favorite for London club, the performances of the teams in previous European tournaments favor the German club, which has more important match experience. On the other hand, Arsenal has not had much success in the Champions League for a long time and only managed to reach the semi-finals last season. This year, the English club may struggle due to the lack of experienced backup players, as in January, only one young player joined the team, while Bayern, bringing back defender B. Lizarazu from France, made few strengthenings. Arsenal will travel to Munich with a slightly weakened defense - defender S. Campbell is still unavailable, A. Cole is trying to recover from an illness, and J. Hoyte will also not play. There are some doubts about midfielder Edu and forward T. Henry, but they are expected to play, while D. Bergkamp will not travel to Germany. On the other hand, unlike the future opponents, Bayern coach F. Magath has had a full squad so far, but the team captain M. Ballack suffered an injury over the weekend and will unfortunately have to miss this match. Probable starting lineups: "Bayern" (4-4-2): Kahn; Sagnol, Lucio, Kovac, Lizarazu; Frings, Hargreaves, Scholl, Salihamidzic; Makaay, Pizarro "Arsenal" (4-4-2): Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Cygan, Cole; Ljungberg, Vieira, Edu, Pires; Reyes, Henry Eindhoven - After many attempts, PSV from Eindhoven will seek to extend their participation in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages and make up for their defeat last year when Monaco visited the Netherlands and won 2-1 in the first tournament match. Overall, playing at home against French clubs, PSV has achieved four victories, played five draws, and lost only once. Later that season, Monaco reached the Champions League final, while PSV dropped out after the group stage for the seventh consecutive year, but a lot has changed since then - Monaco's principality club has lost their leaders L.Giuly, D.Pršo, J.Rothen, and F.Morientes, while the Eindhoven team lost A.Robben and M.Kežman. However, both clubs have strengthened with capable new players, and they can both be called "dark horses" capable of surprises. PSV ended the year 2004 badly, losing to Panathinaikos and losing the first place in Group E, as well as losing their leader position in the Eredivisie. But after the winter break, G. Hiddink's team recovered and after a few wins and draws, they regained the Eredivisie top spot after a draw with AZ. In January, several players, including Swiss J. Vonlanthen, were loaned out, while Brazilian Robert and returning loan defender E. Addo joined the squad. In the last group match, Monaco crushed Deportivo 5-0, and although they only finished sixth in Ligue 1 at that time, under the new coach D. Deschamps, they managed to achieve four consecutive victories. However, just as Monaco returned to the fight for the champion title, they failed to beat Nantes away, played a draw at home with leaders Lyon, and missed the opportunity to come closer. In the transfer market, Monaco was quiet in January, not registering any new players nor loaning out J. Juan. Before these matches, three midfielders returned to the PSV lineup - J. De Jong, P. Cocu, and J. Vogel, while M. Van Bommel, who did not appear on the weekend, is also expected to play. Some doubts remain about Edu and T. Henry, but they should play, while non-traveling D. Bergkamp. Eindhoven's coach Deschamps will have to make some choices for the starting lineup, as D. Perez, S. Squillaci, and J. Chevanton have injuries, and the latter may not be able to help the team. Probable starting lineups: "PSV" (4-3-3): Gomes; Ooijer, Alex, Bouma, Young-Pyo Lee; van Bommel, Vogel, Cocu; Ji-Sung Park, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Farfan. "Monaco" (4-4-2): Roma; Maicon, Rodriguez, Givet, Evra; Zikos, Bernardi, Kallon, Plasil; Saviola, Adebayor – Leverkusen When these teams met in the Champions League quarter-finals three years ago, they were leading their respective national championships and also seeking victories in the cup competitions. However, at the end of the season, both Bayer finished second in all competitions, while Liverpool relinquished the first position in England to Arsenal. Subsequently, neither club was able to win much, except for Liverpool's league cup triumph in 2003, so those dramatic quarter-final matches, which Bayer won with an overall score of 5-2, were the beginning of a period of poor form. Having had a couple of unsuccessful seasons, the famous clubs had undergone many changes since then, including new team strategists - Liverpool coach R. Benitez brought in several players from Spain, while Bayer no longer has their former leaders Lucio and M. Ballack, who moved to Bayern, and coach K. Topmoller was replaced by K. Augenthaler. These changes did not help the English club much, as they had an unstable season and are currently in fifth place in the Premier League. Leverkusen has been doing better lately - after their losses, Bayer only lost to Bayern, and are now fourth in the Bundesliga, seven points behind Bayern. During January, Liverpool, who had many injuries, were active in filling the gaps - joining the team were A. Le Tallac and S. Carson, while M. Pellegrino and F. Morientes arrived from Spain; however, they cannot play in the Champions League as they have already played for other clubs in European competitions. Bayer welcomed back only the American L. Donovan from loan, and several backup players were loaned out to other teams. While at home, Liverpool has won ten times and played three draws against German clubs out of thirteen matches overall, this time the hosts may struggle due to the absence of players: team captain S. Gerrard is suspended due to yellow cards, M. Pellegrino and F. Morientes cannot play, and F. Sinama-Pongolle, C. Kirkland, X. Alonso, and D. Cisse are dealing with severe injuries while N. Mellor is not fully recovered. Among the better news for R. Benitez are that Josemi and H. Kewell should play, although there are doubts about their condition. Bayer suffered losses as well - we will not see the Croatian M. Babic, Brazilian R. Junior, and defender J. Nowotny in Leverkusen. Nowotny, who suffered a serious injury, could even face the end of his career. Probable starting lineups: "Liverpool" (4-4-2): Dudek; Finnan, Carragher, Hyypia, Traore; Riise, Hamann, Biscan, Garcia; Kewell, Baros "Leverkusen" (4-4-2): Butt; Placente, Callsen-Bracker, Juan, Schneider; Ramelow, Ponte, Freier, Krzynowek; Voronin, Berbatov
