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The UEFA Champions League 2018-19 Round-of-16 draws are finally out, and the fans have been promised several lip-smacking encounters that will eventually leave eight winners to take each other on in the remaining stages.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City will take on German club Schalke, while Manchester United faces French giants PSG. Real Madrid will have to overcome the advances of "Golden Boy" Matthijs de Ligt and co. from Ajax Amsterdam, while Barcelona takes on against Olympique Lyon.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus will face off against Atletico Madrid, while Bayern and Liverpool will go against each other in what could be the fiercest contest of the round-of-16. Tottenham will be challenged by German league leaders Borussia Dortmund, while AS Roma will take on FC Porto.
The draws are, in fact, highly interesting, and here is something that makes it all the more so. Seven players will be featuring against their former clubs in the last-16, and this slideshow aims to cover them.
#1. Mario Mandzukic (Atletico Madrid - Juventus)
The Croatian forward who was a part of his country's splendid run at the 2018 World Cup, plies his trade at the club level with Italian giants Juventus. He has won three Serie A titles with the club and was the lone-scorer for them in the losing cause against Real Madrid in the 2016-2017 UCL finals.
Mandzukic has played for a host of football clubs and has been decorated with laurels wherever he played.
In 2014, Mandzukic moved to Atletico Madrid, where he announced his arrival by scoring the winner against local rivals Real Madrid in the second leg of the Spanish Supercopa. Overall, he scored 20 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions for Atletico, before leaving for his current club Juventus in the very next season.
Mandzukic will be coming up against his former colleagues from Atletico in the upcoming UCL round-of-16 ties, some of them like Jan Oblak, Diego Godin, Koke, Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann still featuring for the red-and-whites.
#2. Xherdan Shaqiri (Bayern Munich - Liverpool)
Swiss international Xherdan Shaqiri rose through the ranks at FC Basel during the earliest stages of his career, from where he earned a move to Bayern Munich due to commendable performances in the 2012 Euros along with the likes of Mandzukic for Croatia.
Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller, and Toni Kroos were the other chief competitors for Shaqiri's midfield role at Bayern. He eventually managed to make his first professional appearance for the Bavarians as a half-time substitute in a DFB-Pokal match against SSV Jahn Regensburg, scoring once and assisting twice in a 4-0 win.
He later repeated the same feat in a UCL match against BATE Borisov, earning his first UCL match ball. The 2012-'13 would be one of his most unforgettable seasons when he went on to win the UCL, Bundesliga and the DFB-Pokal with Bayern in their first ever treble.
Later in 2013, he was also able to add the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup medals to his name, making him the most decorated Swiss footballer till date - at the young age of 22.
He later moved to Inter Milan in 2015 and then to England's Stoke City just seven months later, due to a torrid time in Italy. Shaqiri evolved to be one of Stoke's best players over the years, but the club as such deteriorated in performance and finally got itself relegated at the end of last season, which is when he moved to Liverpool, his current club.
Shaqiri is basically a winger but he has been used as a midfield option at Liverpool. The club meanwhile, is enjoying their most favourable run of results in recent years, in both England and Europe. At the time of writing this, Jurgen Klopp's men are the table-toppers at the English Premier League, thanks to some spectacular display of football.
Shaqiri will now be facing his former club Bayern - the club that once made him a European Champion - in the UCL round-of-16, and will be returning to the Allianz Arena one more time, in what promises to be a cracker of a contest, as he will try his very best to go further ahead in the race for the silverware, albeit with his new club this time.
#3. Angel Di Maria (Manchester Utd - PSG)
Angel Di Maria is one of the most popular footballers in the world, and also one of the "luckiest", in his own words, having shared the dressing rooms with several legends - Lionel Messi (Argentina), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Gianluigi Buffon (PSG), Iker Casillas (PSG), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), etc.
The footballer played first for Rosario Central in Argentina, from where Benfica snapped him up in 2007. Three seasons later, he found himself at Real Madrid, one of the best clubs in the world. Post 100+ games for the all-whites, he headed to English giants Manchester United, who were looking for a revamp after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager.
Signing up for £59.7million and inheriting the No.7 from the likes of George Best, Eric Cantona, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, indicated the immense pressure that was on the Argentine.
Though he performed well in the first few games, earning the PFA Player of the Month in September 2014 and subsequently the PFA Goal of the Month in October 2014, he suffered a hamstring injury in late October and was never his usual self during the rest of the season.
The very next season, he shifted to French giants PSG, where he has remained ever since, ending the 2015-16 with a record 18 assists. The arrival of Julian Draxler, and later Neymar Jr., hampered his starting chances with the club, but nevertheless, he continues to chip in with fine performances whenever he plays.
PSG has been drawn against Manchester United for the next round of contests in the Champions League, which means that Di Maria will be coming up against his former club.
#4. Leroy Sane (Schalke - Manchester City)
The German youngster plays for both club and country in his preferred position of a winger and is one of the brightest prospects in the game right now.
After a 14-year-old youth career that saw him shuttling across Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen and back at Schalke once again, Leroy was promoted to the Schalke senior team in 2014, becoming an instant hit. His best moments came in a 4-3 win against Real Madrid in a UCL knockout tie in the same year when he scored once and assisted once.
After 47 appearances with Schalke, Sane joined English club Manchester City in 2016-17, scoring 21 times in 72 appearances till date. He has scored at least once against most of the top PL clubs, the highest point coming in the Liverpool-City fixture in early 2017-18 when he scored twice and assisted once in a 5-0 drubbing. In the meantime, he also debuted for Germany's senior side, netting twice in 17 appearances till date.
Manchester City has been drawn to face Schalke in the UCL pre-quarters, and for Leroy Sane it will be a homecoming of sorts, having associated with the club for a lion's share of his club career till date.
#5. Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Real Madrid - Ajax)
The Dutch international with a silver medal at the 2010 World Cups had a good run with Ajax several years ago, and after numerous transfers, is now back at Ajax to enjoy the last few years of footballing life.
Huntelaar began his senior career in 2002, achieving promotion from the younger ranks at PSV Eindhoven, though he went on loans from there soon after. He settled at Heerenveen in 2004, and then shifted base to Ajax in 2006, where he netted 76 times in just 92 appearances, making him somewhat of a club legend at the age of just 23.
It was, therefore not strange at all when Europe's biggest club came calling, as Real Madrid snapped him up for €20millions in December 2008. In just half a season, Huntelaar scored 8 times in 20 appearances, UEFA's regulations preventing him from playing in the Champions League having already played a few games for Ajax ahead of the transfer.
In June 2009, Huntelaar was deemed surplus to requirements despite the immense talent, and he signed for Milan. A fairly dry spell of 7 goals in 25 appearances saw him being shipped again, this time to Schalke.
Huntelaar remained there for seven years, from 2010 through 2017, made 175 appearances and netted 82 times, also becoming the club's second-best scorer ever. In 2017, he moved back to his former club Ajax, where he has found the net 21 times across 43 appearances till date.
This is probably one of Huntelaar's last seasons prior to retirement (he is 35 years old now), and guess who Ajax will face in the next round at the UEFA CL? None other than his former side, Real Madrid.
The tables have turned a lot in the meantime, Ajax enjoying a marauding run across competitions, and Real Madrid suffering many setbacks. For the first time ever, Ajax has a good chance of pulling off an upset, and it is up to Huntelaar and co., to see if they can take Ajax through to the Quarter-finals.
#6. Samuel Umtiti (Lyon - Barcelona)
Samuel Umtiti, World Champion with France right now, is an integral part of the Barcelona setup. The centre-back who is still in the fledgeling years of his footballing career is already touted to be one of the next-big-things in the game.
Umtiti grew up through the academies in Lyon, from where he started his senior career as well, in 2012. His defensive prowess, coupled with the fine physical attributes, made him a frequent starter in the French side, and by 2016, he had racked up 131 appearances for his club, during when he also scored 3 goals from his centre back position, two of which came in the 2012-'13 season itself.
A fine performance for eventual runners-up France in the 2016 Euro Cup, attracted attention from Barca scouts, something that eventually resulted in the La Liga side signing the French starlet.
Umtiti debuted for them in the 3-0 win of the second leg against Sevilla in the Spanish Super Cup, that also won them the title. Injuries sidelined Umtiti for a long while before he came back in the second half of the season, also assisting once in the "Remontada", the 6-1 comeback victory against PSG in the UCL quarter-finals, after losing 0-4 in the first leg.
In two seasons with Barcelona, Umtiti has won one La Liga, two Spanish Supercups and two Copa del Reys. He is still devoid of a Champions League medal, and Barcelona will be keen to end their trophy-less drought of three years this time. On the way, they will meet Lyon in the round-of-16, Samuel Umtiti's former club. Umtiti will be keen to put up a good show against his former side.
#7. Ivan Marcano (Porto - Roma)
Ivan Marcano Sierra is a Spanish international, who plays mainly as a central defender, and as a left-back at times. The 31-year old started his senior career with the B Team of Racing Santander in 2005, before moving to the main side in 2007. Two seasons there was followed by a move to Villareal, from where he went out on loans to Getafe and Olympiacos.
Despite maintaining a satisfactory nick, Marcano was not able to find a fixed spot, and it was time to move again, this time settling at Rubin Kazan. He went out on loan at Olympiacos once again, before FC Porto snapped him up as a replacement option for Ellaquim Mangala who was leaving for Manchester City.
Porto was Marcano's best spell till date, as he was able to find a fixed spot in the team and at the same time deliver consistent performances at the backline. He made 104 appearances for Lyon in total, and was at his goalscoring best, netting 11 times despite being a defender. He was also the captain of Porto during the 2017-18 season in which he helped his side to win the league title after a gap of five years.
At the beginning of the 2018-19 season, Marcano was picked by Italian aces As Roma, where he has made four appearances till date. The fifth appearance may as well be the upcoming contest against FC Porto, his former club. The stage is thus set for a classic encounter between the two titans, in Europe's biggest stage.
