Chelsea legend John Terry has picked out the four teams he believes can win the Champions League this campaign after the last-16 draw.
After a controversial redraw, the competition’s group stage winners and runners-up have been drawn for February’s first knockout round.
Some mouth-watering match-ups have been thrown up too, including PSG against Real Madrid, while knockout first-timers Red Bull Salzburg were drawn against Bayern Munich.
The current holders and Terry’s former side, Chelsea, have got Lille, while Liverpool have been drawn alongside Serie A giants Inter Milan. Man City face Sporting Lisbon, while Manchester United will play Atletico Madrid.
And sharing a picture of the draw, Terry gave his verdict as to who he thought would emerge winners, including three English teams and the only German side left in the competition.
“Who’s winning the @ChampionsLeague this year?” he asked his 250k followers. “@ChelseaFC, @FCBuyernMunich [sic], @LFC, @ManCity look to good today me.”
Meanwhile, Benfica will play Ajax and Villarreal have been drawn against Juventus.
Terry’s former team-mate Joe Cole conceded that while Chelsea will be pleased to have avoided one of the big sides in Lille, they must be cautious not to underestimate them.
“Chelsea will be very happy with that,” Cole said on BT Sport. “But, put a word of caution on that, Lille are a very strong, exciting and aggressive team.
“They will have nothing to lose playing against Chelsea. Chelsea are the champions, they are the hunted. “When Lille play it can be a hell of an atmosphere. It’s going to be a tough one.
“They will be breathing a sigh of relief to avoid Bayern Munich and Real Madrid and I get that. But, you can’t discount this Lille team, they are a very well run club.
“Again, with a lot of good young players who will be fearless. So, Chelsea will have to be mindful of an upset in that game.”
Meanwhile, Michael Owen added: “I think in general, apart from Manchester United the English teams have fared well, Chelsea in particular.
“Coming second in the group they could have made a mistake because of course then you can play some big hitters. But, they managed to avoid that.
“I think everyone were wanting to avoid PSG in the main from group one.
“From Chelsea’s point of view they were always going to avoid English teams.
“Probably the easier side of the draw for that because you take all of them out and the big teams they faced in the group stages – out of equation. But I’m sure they’re pleased with their draw even with Lille.”
