WITH 13 teams out of 16 coming from Europe’s top five leagues, the business end of the Champions League begins with knockout stages in February next year.

But when the draws for the last 16 are made on Monday, there will be one team the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund would want to avoid: Manchester City.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side, along with Paris St Germain, Juventus and Arsenal, are the potential dark horses lurking in Pot 2 of the draw and most of the group winners wouldn’t prefer being drawn against one of those teams.

Bayern Munich, champions two seasons ago, cannot be drawn against the English champions having already faced them in the group stage, while another group winners Chelsea can’t draw them in the knockout stage as they both are from the same national federation.

But European champions Real, last season’s runners-up Atletico or Catalan giants Barca still face the prospect of meeting the side which so brilliantly undid AS Roma 2-0 at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday to qualify at the expense of the home side from Group ‘E’.

That performance in the Italian capital — without talismanic striker Sergio Aguero, inspirational skipper Vincent Kompany and midfield powerhouse Yaya Toure — showed City aren’t European novices anymore.

“It showed our ambition in Europe. It showed that we’re a big team,” City’s match-winner Samir Nasri, who scored the opener with a thumping shot and set up the second for Pablo Zabaleta, told City TV after the match.

To be a big team, you have to beat the big teams.

And City would no doubt be looking at a clash against one of the big guns to rubber-stamp their authority in Europe after they went out to Barca in the knockout stages last season.

Barca secured top spot in Group ‘F’ after their attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez all scored in their 3-1 win over PSGon Wednesday.

After the close season saw a massive overhaul, with coach Luis Enrique coming in, the Catalans — who last won the Champions League in 2011 — are looking to make a deep run this year after exiting in the quarter-final stage last season.

“If you want to win the Champions League, all of your opponents are difficult and tough to beat,” Suarez told the club website after their game against PSG.

Suarez’s former club Liverpool failed to make it to the knockout stages, knocked out by FC Basel after a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Tuesday.

Barca’s fierce rivals Real topped that group with a perfect record of six wins out of six and their 4-0 win over Ludogorets on Tuesday saw them claim a record-breaking 19th successive win in all competitions for a Spanish team, breaking Barca’s record of 18 straight win.

Despite their exemplary form coach Carlo Ancelotti, who led the club to their 10th European Cup crown — the Decima — last season, is still wary of the competition in the last 16.

“The opponents are more competitive than last year,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.

“There are teams such as Manchester City, Juventus or PSG, who are very competitive. Last year, all of the group winners got through the last 16, but this year I think it’s going to be different.”

Real’s have had some famous clashes with fellow European aristocrats Juve in the past and although the Serie A champions may not be the same force as they were in the 1990s, they believe they can beat anyone and progress.

Italy’s only representatives in the final 16, Juve played a drab goalless draw with Atletico on Tuesday to qualify behind Diego Simeone’s side from Group ‘A’ but their midfield star Paul Pogba hopes his side make up for their exit at the group stage last season.

“The draw? No preference. We’ll play to progress and come out on top,” the Frenchman told Sky Italia. “We know that we can go far with this team but we need to give even more because the games aren’t going to be easy.”

Arsenal are also one of the teams the sides in Pot 1 would be looking to avoid.

The Gunners, though, can expect a round-of-16 clash against Bayern for a third season running with statistical wizard MisterChip predicting a 24 per cent chance of that happening.

A similar percentage is forecasted for another Bundesliga side, Dortmund drawing another English side City while the chances of Chelsea drawing Dortmund’s fellow Germans Bayer Leverkusen are calculated at 28 per cent.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2014