Champions League knockout stage draw –as it happened

… you can carry on the Champions League discussion with Amy Lawrence from midday in this webchat. Thanks for your emails. Bye.

"I know this is slightly off-topic, but sacking Villas-Boas is nuts," begins David Wall. "He's a good manager, has had to pretty much start again when it comes to designing a tactical approach for the side (given that over the previous couple of years it had amounted to little more than 'give it to Bale') and was having the kind of teething troubles that you'd expect with that. But the question they should be asking isn't 'are we going to have success this season', but rather 'are we going to get a prolonged period of success'. Given the ages and obvious talent of the players brought in then the answer to that second question is 'yes'. And given that most of those signings were paid for by flogging Bale, there isn't a great financial need to answer 'yes' to the first question. I hope he takes then for Joe Lewis's yacht in the settlement at least." I expect he will end up back where he is loved, Porto. He must be sick of English football.

Man City and Arsenal pay the price for finishing second.

What's the best tie not involving an English team? I'd say Atlético v Milan. The young swashbuckling upstart v the venerable old man who relies on his wits.

Mark Judd puts forward a scenario that would probably make finishing outside the top four palatable, just, for pesky Man Utd fans. "Man Utd finish outside top four, win Champions League thereby denying Liverpool a place after they finish fourth in the league. Remember the Chelsea and Tottenham situation." I do Mark. And Spurs are still perhaps feeling the repercussions of that, having lost Gareth Bale to Madrid and the mess that Spurs have become this season.

You can join her here.

But for now you'll have to make do with me and an email from disgruntled Arsenal fan, Jeffery Rosie. "Much is made of the perceived pundits' wish for Arsenal to fail, but surely fate is more of an arse. Chelsea in the opening League Cup match, Tottenham FA Cup, group of death in the Champions League and then Bayern Munich all topped off with Arsenal's big Premier League games being hopelessly rammed together." I'll stop playing the violin now Jeffery.

Tottenham Hotspur have sacked André Villas-Boas as manager, 24 hours after their humiliating 5-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday. Continue reading …

Well that was always going to be tricky for Arsenal and Manchester City. Ties to savour, though. And will Arsenal have a better idea what to expect having played them last season and given them an almighty scare at the Allianz? Better the devil you know? As for City, that's a worse draw for Barcelona, surely. Aguero v Mascherano? Hmmm.

United will be much happier than Chelsea. David Moyes's side will hope to have found a bit more form by February – and they're up against probably the weakest side in the knockout stages. Whereas Mourinho will have to find a way of making Gary Cahill and co stop Didier Drogba, who he would still rather have in his current Chelsea side, one feels.

"Why does it seem to me that this is the season where Utd will win Champions League but finish out of top four in EPL." Because you're optimistic Gokul Kannan.

It couldn't be anything else could it? How Arsenal must rue that Napoli match …

Klopp will be happy, I suspect.

Good luck Schalke.

Drogba v Mourinho!

Leverkusen boss Sami Hyypia will hope the rabble that faced United don't turn up for this one.

That's very difficult for Milan …

Couldn't see that coming!

Well, that's a tasty one. Unlucky for Barça really. It's Luis Figo's fault. He drew it.

"Don't even think of switching to cover AVB sacking the way you did the night of Capello's resignation, yeah? " chides Philip Podolsky. Hey, I just dio what The Man says. I haven't had any such instructions.

"Hi Gregg, as a United fan I'd prefer to avoid Gala, as they're dead certs for the final, given the ground-breaking tactics they employed vs Juve," honks Dinos Stavrides. Brilliant tactics weren't they? They would have to manufacture snow again though Dinos. Not easy …

Luis Figo is introduced as one of Uefa's elite ball-pluckers. Meanwhile, the suits at Nyon check their phones and nudge one another whispering "harsh, what about Baldini?" and other such things.

"Personally as a Gooner I would fancy either Barçaa, Madrid or PSG. Munich and Athlèti are the ones to avoid, within their sides there are no weak links and are in amazing form. Barça, Madrid and PSG have been up and down and have weak links which is our aim to exploit." Cameron Dhaliwal makes it crystal clear just how tough Arsenal's draw looks.

So Uefa ball pickers are ready to go, I think. I'd like to see Man City v Atlético Madrid. Aguero and Costa in a shootout …

Ho-hum … As is the case with these things the buildup to the draw may be more laboured than Michael Dawson's attempts to catch Luis Suárez yesterday. So what else is there to say about it? What about the seeded teams, Chelsea and Man Utd? Are there any teams that they will want to avoid? Are Milan still a force? Their league form would suggest not but they have an aura around them in Europe. And then does anyone ever fancy going to play Galatasaray?

"Morning Gregg," chirps Steve Roberts. "I can't remember such a loaded draw in the Champions League before. Will Wenger or Pellegrini even bother to tune in knowing that at best they may pull a Borussia Dortmund team who are in a poor run of form or a relative newcomer in Atlético who are blowing most teams away?" Well, the Big Bang Theory is on Channel 4 at 11 or they could watch a documentary about Eddie Stobart trucks if they really want to bury their heads in the sand.

Would Barcelona be such a bad draw for Arsenal, given who they could face? I'm not so sure …