Jose Mourinho does not want his Chelsea players to get carried away with Champions League glory and has urged them to put aside thoughts of their European encounter against his old team Porto.
Mourinho has met Porto before two seasons ago when both sides progressed from the group stages, but he wants Chelsea to concentrate first on the Premiership until the game arrives.
He said: "Porto is a team with tradition in European football and is a team with ambition, so they deserve respect from us and they will have it.
"Do we want to go to the quarter-final? Of course. Are we confident?
100%.
"But I repeat only a good Chelsea playing at a high level will do it.
"It is two months to the first leg so it is time to forget the Champions League and concentrate on domestic competitions.
"
Porto do not possess the same quality as the side which Mourinho guided to UEFA Cup and Champions League triumphs in successive years, but their general manager Antero Henrique said he was looking forward to the chance to get one over on his club's former coach.
"Are we going to call up Jose Mourinho before the match? No, afterwards to perhaps tell him, 'sorry for winning'," Henrique quipped.
In other games involving British sides, the outstanding match of the first knock-out round pits reigning European champions Barcelona against 2005 winners Liverpool.
Manchester United have a chance to set the record straight against last season's betes noires Lille, while Arsenal face Dutch league leaders PSV Eindhoven.
In their first appearance in the last 16, Celtic have a glamorous encounter with AC Milan to look forward to.
Liverpool's Spanish manager Rafael Benitez said: "Everybody says Barcelona are one of the best sides in the world so we have to upset the situation. We have to be mentally ready to play against very good players."
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson believes there will be no repeat of last season's disastrous encounter with Lille which saw his side eliminated from the competition.
Ferguson said: "We had a bad experience last year but this is a different United team.
"It is an emerging team, which is getting better all the time. We know it will be a difficult tie but we have improved so much from last season.
"
Arsenal also avoided the big guns of Europe, but vice-chairman David Dein insisted PSV Eindhoven were a tough prospect.
Dein said: "One would hope the experience of getting to the final last season would stand us in good stead. Arsene Wenger has assembled a very talented squad and if they play at their best anything can happen.
"
AC Milan are currently struggling in Serie A with injuries and the points penalty imposed for last season's match-fixing scandal, but Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell still rates them "formidable".
He said: "By their own standards, they are having a difficult time but I'm sure the injury situation will be cleared by February.
"We will be reasonably confident in front of our own supporters however.
"
The other matches see heavyweight contests between Roma and Lyon, Real Madrid versus Bayern Munich, and Inter Milan against Valencia.
The first legs will be played on February 20 and 21 and the second legs - with all four English clubs at home - on March 6 and 7.
News RSS