After the mid season hibernation, there will be another spur of Champions League live football action as the middle of February approaches. This time, the seriousness and stakes are upped to incredible levels as one mistake could rule any team out of the competition. While this season has seen quite a few new faces at what is now the knockout round, there are enough familiar teams to remind us how important the competition is to the biggest European clubs. Last season’s finalists Manchester United and Barcelona are once again involved even though both teams took decidedly different paths this time. The English Premier League champions have had a comfortable passage while Barcelona saw more teams willing to have a go at them as defending champions. But the Champions League is all about fairy tales in football and so far we have seen quite a few of that in the early rounds.

Some clubs like Stuttgart have struggled in their own national leagues while offering better performances in this more prestigious tournament. Other great teams like Liverpool have experienced the opposite and are no longer involved, throwing them into crisis and uncertainty. The beginning of the knockout last 16 round in the Champions League will also provide some tantalising matchups. Manchester United will line up against one of their legends in David Beckham as the latter leads AC Milan out at Old Trafford, hoping to knock his old club out despite such an action sure to break his heart. But the England international is a real professional and doing what he can to help his present club achieve success on the pitch. Chelsea will also meet a familiar face in previous manager Jose Mourinho when they travel to the San Siro against Inter Milan. There will be a lot of reunion as much as some spiteful actions on the field when these two teams clash. At the end of the day, sentiment has to be left by pitchside while honour and glory are contested amongst the best football teams.