Toon Players Want European Football - Pardew Cakes His Pants!

Last updated : 16 December 2013 By Footy Mad - Editor

Top six - and European football - which EVERY Newcastle player wants.

So WHY does Alan Pardew shit his pants at the very thought?

In May he said those famous words: "Thank God we are not in Europe next season!"

But he is a lone soldier.

 

Vurnon Anita: "We have won a lot of matches and the spirit is very good. But we must keep it up, work hard and the next game, hopefully we win.

"I think it will be tougher than this game because they need the points and so do we, so it will be a hard game.

"Remy was unlucky missing those chances against Southampton. But he is a good player, so he will get over it and in the next game, he will score.

"It's two points dropped because we had a lot of chances, and a big one with Loic and he didn't score. But we worked hard today and we got one point.

"In the Premier League, you never know. You must keep on fighting until the end, and we did.

"But they scored. We worked hard to score another goal, but unluckily, we didn't.

"We want to finish in the top six, and that gets us into Europe, which is where this club should be."

This is what we are missing ...

The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League takes place on Monday morning.

Seven former winners are in the hat, along with last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund, although Italian giants Juventus are absent after crashing out of the group stages this week.

The ties will take place on 18/19 February and 25/26 February, with the group winners at home in the second leg.

Who could the English clubs get drawn against?

In the round of 16, teams cannot be drawn against sides from their own country, nor the other club which qualified from their group.

Arsenal and Manchester City have what on paper appears to be the biggest challenge, as they will face a side who qualified as group winners, having finished as runners-up themselves, while Chelsea and Manchester United should be handed a slightly more appealing tie.

Arsenal (could face): Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona

Chelsea (could face): Bayer Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Olympiakos, Zenit St Petersburg, AC Milan

Manchester City (could face): Real Madrid, Paris Saint Germain, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona

Manchester United (could face): Galatasaray, Olympiakos, Schalke, Zenit St Petersburg, AC Milan

What interesting stories lie in wait?

Chelsea and Jose Mourinho could come face-to-face with Didier Drogba, the man whose spot-kick won the Champions League for the Blues in 2012. The Ivorian spent eight years at Stamford Bridge but is now with Turkish giants Galatasaray, and with the shaky nature of Chelsea’s defence at present, John Terry and co. won’t be relishing a tie against their former frontman.

Uefa Champions League last 16 draw - what to look out forDidier Drogba could face his former club (Picture: Getty)
Arsenal could be drawn against reigning champions Bayern Munich, who ended the Gunners’ Champions League run last season, despite Arsene Wenger’s men earning a 2-0 victory at the Allianz Arena in March. They could also draw Real Madrid which would see record signing Mesut Ozil return to his old employers.

But one story which will have to wait is the potential return of Pep Guardiola to Barcelona. Both the Spaniard’s current club Bayern Munich and his former side finished as group winners, so cannot face each other at this stage of proceedings.

For the same reason, Jose Mourinho cannot yet return to the Bernabeu to face Real Madrid.