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Villarreal v Panathinaikos

First Leg: Estadio El Madrigal, Wednesday, February 25 2009.

Second Leg: Olympic Stadium, Tuesday, March 10 2009.

Every year, there’s the one team in Round 16 that everyone wants to get in the draw. Last year, it was Celtic. This year, it’s Panathinaikos. As damaging as that opinion may be for Panathinaikos, it’s unfortunately true.

Panathinaikos are not playing well this year. With the majority of their season gone, they’re frustratingly 12 points behind fierce rivals Olympiakos and not playing positive football at all. The silver lining is that Panathanikos did come top of their group, though the Greek team hardly looked good during their Champions League campaign; they’re currently 33/1 to reach the Champions League final with SkyBet.

Villarreal will step up to the test, they’re odds on 4/7 favorites from Victor Chandler and many people think that they could go far in the Champions League, a great value 12/1 with SkyBet to reach the final, look nice early odds. Villarreal’s European form has been excellent, they held Manchester United to two scoreless draws and thrashed Aalborg 6-3. Villarreal’s most impressive player has been former United striker Giuseppe Rossi, he’s the seventh top goal scorer in La Liga with 11 goals though a risky 80/1 (Bet365) to be the top goal scorer in the Champions League.

This will be Villarreal’s only chance at silverware this season, so you can expect them to go all out. If they play and defend with the confidence they did against Man United, then they can play against anyone. Panathinaikos could give them an early test, especially if they play like they did in the second half of the group stage, though at this stage I’d back Villarreal to win, and probably win big.