© EuroFootball.com
Next week, football enthusiasts will once again be able to enjoy the Old Continent tournament's round of 16 matches.
Two weeks in a row, the first round of 16 matches will be played in the UEFA Champions League, but many footballers will have to miss them.
Manchester City - Barcelona The first match will take place in England, but City will be without their team leader Sergio Aguero and defender Fernandinho. Meanwhile, James Milner will miss the match due to yellow card accumulation.
Barcelona will definitely be missing their key defender Carles Puyol, but Neymar will likely be able to help the Catalans in Manchester.
Bayer - Paris Saint-Germain The Leverkusen team will have to face the French champions without talented midfielder Emre Can, who earned three yellow cards in the group stage, as well as Robbie Kruse, and there are doubts regarding Stefan Reinartz.
PSG coach Laurent Blanc will have to keep Edinson Cavani and full-back Christophe Jallet off the field.
Milan - Atletico Madrid The team from the fashion capital has suspended players Riccardo Montolivo and Sulley Muntari. Robinho and Stephan El Shaarawy are out due to injuries, while Keisuke Honda will not participate in this tournament, having ended his appearance in the group stage with Moscow's CSKA this season.
Diego Simeone's team will be missing defenders Javier Manquillo, Tiago Mendes, Felipe Luis, and Thibaut Courtois, but forward David Villa returns to the lineup.
Arsenal - Bayern London's Arsenal, currently second in the Premier League, will be without newcomers Kim Kallstrom, Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby, Thomas Vermaelen, and Aaron Ramsey, while midfielder Mikel Arteta cannot help the team due to a red card he received against Napoli.
Meanwhile, the winners of this tournament will avoid major losses. Bayern will be without Franck Ribery and the long-term injured Holger Badstuber in at least the first round of 16 matches.
Zenit - Borussia The St. Petersburg club can rejoice in having no injured players, so they can face the German runners-up with their strongest lineup.
However, Jurgen Klopp's team cannot rejoice as they are dealing with injuries to Jakub Blaszczykowski, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Marco Reus, Sven Bender, and Ilkay Gundogan.
Olympiakos - Manchester United It seems that the Greeks will also be able to face the Premier League champions with their strongest lineup. Costas Mitroglou and possibly Dimitrios Siovas will be missing for the winter-facing team.
Man Utd will be without Nani and Juan Mata, who participated in this tournament with Chelsea this season. It is believed that Marouane Fellaini, Jonny Evans, and Phil Jones could help the Red Devils.
Galatasaray - Chelsea Galatasaray will definitely be without striker Aydin Yilmaz, and experienced defender Gokhan Zan may also miss the match, although his situation is still unclear.
Jose Mourinho will not be able to field a full team against the Turks. Defenders Marco van Ginkel and Fernando Torres are recovering from injuries, and new signings Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah will not play for the Blues due to having represented other clubs in the Champions League this season.
Schalke - Real Madrid The Gelsenkirchen eleven has quite a few problems with players before these matches. Jan Kirchhoff, Benedikt Höwedes, Dennis Aogo, Christian Fuchs, Atsuto Uchida, Roman Neustadter, and Christian Clemens will definitely not play at home.
Meanwhile, the royal club will play without major problems. Sergio Ramos, who is suspended, and Sami Khedira, who has been ruled out for the season, will miss the match.
