although there's only 1 classic matchup between legendary sides, there are a lot of appealing confrontations this round. The Spaniards try to go 3/3 and assert their position in the stupid "which euro league is the bestest" argument. The Qatari Derby. And there's even one for the hipsters. What more could we want?

Apr 2/10:
PSG v Barcelona
I love that Mourinho's assistant had to go on record saying that the rumors of his coach sending a DVD to Ancelotti about how to beat Barca were "crazy". Note he did not say untrue... Barcelona say they are nervous about Ibra (and probably a little mad that he's playing the 1st leg), but they don't sound that scared overall. PSG lacks structure at times, and will play the one team that does not. But they've got more than enough speed to cause some headaches for the diminished Barca defense

Bayern v Juve
the future Bundesliga champions seem to have brushed off their pitiful performance in the return leg against Arsenal by doing what they do best, which is dominate their domestic league. Hamburg, and the tail-end of a 9-2 thrashing, will attest to that. With Schweinie back on the pitch there should be none of the lackadaisicality shown against Arsenal. But Juve have been no slouches when it comes to domestic dominance, and you wonder if the result from the Italy-Germany semi at Euro 2012 won't factor into the psyche of the players as well.

Apr 3/9:
Malaga v Dortmund
Two teams doing well in this competition, not so well at home. BVB have a great core of young attacking players who are also making strides on the national squad. Reus in particular seems to be in fantastic form and might be the difference in this matchup.

Real v Galatasaray
Though they would not admit to it, clearly Real got a favorable draw here. They've settled down and seem to be in cruise control (won their last 6), but an early Gala goal could change their outcome in a hurry. Drogba is clearly the man for this kind of occasion, on paper, and his club have only lost 2 of their last 18 away European fixtures.

Wondering if we should do the usual stream-of-consciousness main thread, or sub-threads for each matchup.