The group stage of Champions League 2009-10 is over and now its time for the knockout stages. The teams for the knockout stage are finalized by a draw. This is done by dividing the 16 qualified teams in two pots. The first pot will consist the top team from each of the eight groups and the second pot will consist the runners up teams from each group. All the teams will be place in an alphabetical order in their pots as follows;

Pot 1

Arsenal
Chelsea
Man Utd
Bordeaux
Fiorentina
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Sevilla

Pot 2

Lyon
Olympiacos
Bayern Munich
VfB Stuttgart
Milan
Inter
Porto
CSKA Moscow

A random team from pot 1 will be pitted against a random team from pot 2 which will be finalized by a draw. The draw is scheduled on 18th Dec 2009. All the big teams are looking in great shape to qualify for the quarter finals as there were not many upsets in this year’s group stage apart from Liverpool. So all teams are hoping for a weaker team to play against in the knock out stage.

After facing defeat on home soil, the Irish players were motivated to a win tonight against football powerhouse France. The match was too intense as a place in the 2010 World Cup Finals was at stake. As disclosed by Giovanni Trapattoni, the Italian coach for Ireland’s national team, Irish players were once again successful in scoring an away goal. A beautiful strike from Tottenham Hotspur star Robbie Keane in the 32nd minute made sure that the match was going to the wire.

France was attacking with full strength with every second passing. Anelka and Henry from Chelsea and Barcelona respectively, tried very hard to score but in vain. Manchester United left back, Patrice Evra was also disappointing tonight as he missed some important chances and so did Arsenal’s Gallas and Real Madrid’s Diarra. Gallas’s Arsenal team mate Sagna was impressive throughout the 90 minutes.

Ireland too had a set of good and bad players for the night. Manchester United regular John O’Shea was unfortunate as he was injured and was visibly limping because of which he was substituted in the 66th minute. Manchester City goalie Shay Given made some good saves tonight and kept the score at 0-1 for 90 minutes.

The match entered extra time as the score over two legs remained 1-1. In the 103rd minute, France was awarded a free kick near midfield by Swedish referee Martin Hansson. Malouda lobbed the ball into the penalty box which was clearly controlled by Henry using his left hand near the left post before volleying it towards Gallas who easily headed the ball into the net. The referee allowed the goal and the Irish players pleas fell to deaf ears.

After the goal, France was in control of the game as they had an upper hand now. Ireland tried attacking but their efforts didn’t seem to trouble the French defense. The match ended in a draw after extra time. France goes through to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup Finals and Ireland goes back home as if all their efforts were for nothing.