Its going to be an interesting period when the round 16 will kick off in the UEFA champions league.The teams that are expected to go through this round to the quater final are Madrid,Bayern,Manchester City, Arsenal,Dortmund,I Include Dortmund because they are so good this season in the Champions league, finishing first in their group of death is not an easy task,so I will include them to go far past the round 16 stage.There are other teams that will push towards making the quater final,but i'm optimistic about this few I mentioned.I really can't wait for this period to come because it is through this league that the best teams in the world are known.Last season,it was Mancity,but I doubt if they will be able to defend the tittle this season.
If so then automatically Leipzig, Lazio, Copenhagen, PSV and Porto will have to be eliminated early, which sounds reasonable because they have tougher opponents. While the other 6 contestants are considered to have equal strength, in fact if you look closely PSG, Inter and Barcelona have the same prospects of continuing their progress to the quarter finals. This is just an initial prediction and things could change drastically by February, it is believed that several teams will improve their squad by being active in the January transfer market.
Regarding surprises, I think it is very understandable, because factors such as injuries are very unpredictable and affect performance. Teams that are more favored could be eliminated early, there are no guarantees even though they have good squad depth. All clubs struggled to reach the final round, but only the two best and luckiest clubs were there.