Spanish media relieved with Champions League draw (News Feature)

By Duncan Shaw Dec 18, 2009, 12:21 GMT

Madrid - Friday's draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League was met with general relief in Spain.

'Madrid, Barca and Sevilla avoid the bogey teams' was the headline on Marca's website.

Defending champions Barcelona against VfB Stuttgart, Real Madrid against Olympique Lyon and Sevilla against CSKA Moscow were seen as positive draws, although Marca said Sevilla 'will suffer' in the cold of wintery Moscow.

All three return legs will be played in Spain because the three Spanish teams all finished top of their respective groups.

The website of rival daily AS was not so positive on Real. AS said Barca and Sevilla have enjoyed 'better luck' in the draw than Real, and reminded its readers that the whites have not managed to progress beyond the round of 16 since 2004.

In addition, AS pointed out, Lyon have always performed well against the 'madridistas'.

Madrid radio station Cadena COPE, however, commented that Lyon 'are a team in decline' and that they were 'easily brushed aside' in last season's round of 16 by Barcelona.

Real coach Manuel Pellegrini reacted to the draw by saying that 'Lyon are just as difficult as Bayern Munich, Inter (Milan) or (AC) Milan,', teams against which Real have avoided.

When asked whether he was worried by Real's poor result against Lyon in the past, Pellegrini answered that 'the statistics did not have any importance.'

Real are desperate to reach the final this season because of their record-breaking summer spending spree - and because the final will be staged in their own Estadio Bernabeu.

Meanwhile, the website of Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo was positive about Barca having been drawn against Stuttgart, claiming that this is exactly the draw that coach Josep Guardiola and his players wanted.

Alexander Hleb is on loan from Barca to Stuttgart but his performances in the Bundesliga have been 'a fiasco', according to Mundo Deportivo.

Mundo Deportivo is also pleased about Inter Milan facing Chelsea and AC Milan facing Manchester United, claiming that 'this means that the quarter-finals will be missing two candidates for the title.'

Barcelona - currently in Abu Dhabi for the Club World Championship - are keen to become the first team to win back-to-back Champions Cups since AC Milan in 1990.