Monday 12 December 2016 19:59, UK
In his latest column, Sky Sports Spanish expert Guillem Balague gives us his lowdown on the Champions League draw.
Sevilla have been drawn against Premier League champions Leicester in the last 16, while Atletico Madrid face Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid play Napoli and Barcelona are up against PSG.
Guillem also runs through the weekend's La Liga action, and answers your Twitter questions below...
So, Sevilla get Leicester. Basically, it's the team that finished seventh in the table last season, against the champions of England, so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of that.
I think Sevilla are more sophisticated than Leicester, in the sense that they have more to them, and at the weekend against Celta Vigo they used a 4-1-4-1 formation with Steven N'Zonzi in the key role in front of the defence. He was marked out, so Jorge Sampaoli brought on Vicente Iborra from the bench to score a hat-trick. They have lots of solutions to problems.
With Samir Nasri on form, you've got a Sevilla who can control games, but with Vitolo as well, they can provide a lot of pace, alongside Wissam Ben Yedder up front. They can defend from the front and attack with pace.
We know what Leicester are like, and when they play at their best they can beat anyone, as we have seen. It's an uncertain tie, but one with two teams that are brave and will stick to two contrasting philosophies.
If Sevilla can be defensively as strong and consistent as they have been recently, I think it will be difficult to beat them, and in my eyes Sevilla are favourites.
I think Real could actually suffer against Napoli, because the Italians have exactly what Real don't like.
This is a team that doesn't want the ball, that likes quick transitions, and even though they will miss Arkadiusz Milik through injury and Gonzalo Higuain too, having been sold to Juve, they could hurt them.
Wolfsburg and Roma made life very difficult for Real last season, and I expect the same this season. If Napoli, with not much to lose, take advantage of the opportunities that I'm sure they will have, we will see a closer encounter than many would have thought.
Atletico I think have the upper hand against Bayer Leverkusen, but they need to improve in terms of how they defend, and how they attack. They are still looking for the essence, looking for a team that is recognisable.
Diego Simeone, by taking one of his offensive weapons in the midfield and making three centre-midfielders out of the four, has made them solid again. They need the consistency and also Antoine Griezmann back in the goals.
It's a hard tie for Barcelona against PSG. Edinson Cavani has replaced Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the goals, and they have so much pace with Lucas Moura or Angel Di Maria. They are solid under Unai Emery, but let's see which Barcelona we find in February.
Will it be the Barcelona we have seen in the last week; one with control, with Andres Iniesta the general of the team again, taking the side towards more control. Or will it be the Barcelona that allows sides into the game because they play far too direct.
La Liga verdict
Barcelona went back to basics and put in a really good performance at Osasuna. The full-backs, who added width against a very defensive side, came from deep to surprise the opposition; two of the goals came from Jordi Alba linking with Sergio Busquets. Lionel Messi, of course, enjoyed having lots of possession and playing in his free role all over the pitch.
It's two good wins for Barca in a row now after the Clasico, despite the fact Luis Suarez looks a tad rusty for some reason.
For Real Madrid, their games of late tend to have a familiar shape to them. They lack intensity in certain parts, they allow their rival to appear because they don't always control the game, but then they go into fifth gear, what we call the 'epic' moments of Madrid, which tends to happen at the end when they turn matches round.
Sergio Ramos scored yet again, his fifth of the season and fourth crucial goal of the season, but they still needed Mariano to contribute by equalising with 10 minutes to go.
The football at Real Madrid is not pretty, but they don't care so much about the style. For them it's about winning, and they found a way to apply the fifth gear when it matters. I don't know if they can keep doing that all of the time, but it's a club-record 35 games unbeaten.
Guillem answers your Twitter questions...
@fwallgren23 what do think is the biggest flaw with Luis Enrique's playing style?
GUILLEM SAYS: When Andres Iniesta is not there, he doesn't have the belief in the faith in Denis Suarez. If he had trusted Denis Suarez, we may have a more recognisable Barcelona now that Iniesta seemingly cannot play three full games in a row
@SaAbacha how good do u think R. Madrid are, or are they riding on some luck considering these hard fought victories?
GUILLEM SAYS: It's a typical team that is competitive. Competitive meaning they appear in the big games. I had doubts about Zidane in the big games, and thought big teams could exploit their weaknesses, and there are weaknesses, for instance when Casemiro is not there, there is nobody that can guarantee a solid performance.
Ronaldo is not as effective as he has been, Benzema is the same, but they have the DNA to appear in the big games. So Zidane has managed to keep that in the side.
@Rossnlaverwhat has Sampaoli changed at Sevilla to finally start picking up away wins? Something Emery struggled with.
GUILLEM SAYS: I think Emery was too conservative when they played away. Certainly Sevilla now have a different approach away from home, and there isn't so much focus on dropping deep and counter attacking; they like to control games more and attack in numbers.
But they did struggle against Celta, and had to tweak the tactics to win. The team is growing in stature. Sampaoli's ideas are to attack, attack, attack, and the players have bought that.
@sainthammond For a team so high in the table, is it odd that we are seeing inconsistent performances from Bilbao?
GUILLEM SAYS: They rush decisions, they go too fast, they don't have clarity in their attack, and they commit mistakes at the back. A lot of their key players are underperforming, so they depend a lot on Raul Garcia's and Aritz Aduriz's goals.
@barcaboy100 is it true Rakitic wants showdown talks? How likely is it he could end up at Man Utd?
GUILLEM SAYS: I think Rakitic is very happy at Barcelona, and I don't believe there are any plans for him to go to Manchester United.
