It's déja vu all over again

If you're a Ty Webb type who believes there is a certain order to the universe, that for every yin there is a yang, then today's Champions League draw makes perfect sense. After Liverpool meet Real Madrid in the round of 16 – a side they had not faced since the 1981 European Cup final – then naturally fate had long ago determined in the quarterfinals it would be Liverpool v. Chelsea, Part 3,472: The Quickening.

OK, so what's different, other than Hiddink? Well, Chelsea has Michael Essien back now. That's no small matter. Mmmm ... You know, I'd like to lay some sort of super-emotional act on you all where I find the magic Spanish carpet the Moors left behind that Rafa and Torres put everybody on to ride all the way to the final in Rome, but that's not working right now. Well, let's get on with it Liverpool. It's Chelsea again. yeeaaaaa ...

In other news, Arsenal and United have a couple of cute tune-ups before they meet in the semifinals: Wenger and the Mighty Mites with a Spanish holiday against Villarreal and Fergie able to trot out Walbeck and the shitty Da Silva brother against Porto.

Oh, and Barça v. Bayern. That's pretty cool. That's old-fashioned, sponsor-less shirts, permed hair, super-short, tight, hiked-up-past-the-waist-style old-school European Cup right there. I like that one even more than Liverpool v. Chelsea. Seriously. These Liverpool matches are going to be agony – nothing more than 180 minutes of football in seven days that make me convulse with anxious nausea until it's over. Barça v. Bayern, though, that'll give you a football pants tent. Very cool. Of course, I can't watch either of those matches because they'll be played at the same time as Liverpool v ... oh, you know.