
Revenge will be on the minds of Real Madrid CF and FC Bayern München when they return to UEFA Champions League duties with their round of 16 first-leg ties next week. Both teams are facing their nemesis from last season's competition – Olympique Lyonnais and FC Internazionale Milano respectively – and will be determined to ensure a different outcome.
In the case of Madrid's visit to Lyon on Tuesday 22 February, the Spanish side lost 2-1 on aggregate to their Ligue 1 rivals at the identical stage last term and Claude Puel's men will hope for more of the same – they are unbeaten against the Merengues and have won all three of the clubs' previous meetings at the Stade de Gerland. José Mourinho got the better of Lyon during FC Porto's triumphant run in 2003/04, however, and will attempt to become the first coach to lead Madrid to the last eight since that campaign.
Twenty-four hours later, Bayern travel to Inter for a repeat of last season's final in Madrid, where they succumbed to two unanswered Diego Milito goals. This is the first European fixture for Inter's new coach Leonardo and he will want to oversee his team's eighth straight home success in the UEFA Champions League. Bayern, victorious in five of their six group matches, will have other ideas.
Nowhere will the sense of anticipation be greater than in the Danish capital where FC København, playing in the knockout rounds for the first time, will host Chelsea FC. The Londoners, by contrast, are competing at this stage for the eighth consecutive season but will do well not to underestimate Ståle Solbakken's side who held FC Barcelona at home in November and won their two other group games at the Parken Stadion.
Olympique de Marseille beat Chelsea 1-0 in their last UEFA Champions League outing before Christmas – a fourth successive victory – and will strive to make it five in a row when they welcome another Premier League team, Manchester United FC, to the Stade Vélodrome on Wednesday. To do so, though, they will have to breach the competition's meanest defence, United having conceded just once in the group stage. Sir Alex Ferguson's men will not be short of confidence either, having won nine of their last ten European away matches.
Have your say on how this week's ties will go. Can Madrid and Bayern exact revenge? Will København and Marseille upset their English visitors?
http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/blogs/blog=blog_talkingpoint/postid=1595664.html#madrid+bayern+revenge+missions
Blog: Talking point
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