Champions League Group Stage Wrap-up

And with that exciting finish, the group stage is now over. Kevin Grosskreutz rescued Borussia Dortmund with a late goal to send last year's injury-ravaged finalists into the Round of 16. Manuel Pellegrini guided City to a comfortable 15 point finish and second place in Group D, missing out on first place by just 1 goal in GD against Bayern. Big improvement on the last two years, though the group was obviously not as tough this time around.

As we move forward to the knockout stages, a quick review of the final group standings:

Group A: Manchester Rags 14 pts, Leverkusen 10 pts, Shakhtar 8 pts, Real Sociedad 1 pts

Group B: Real Madrid 16 pts, Galatasaray 7 pts, Juventus 6 pts, Copenhagen 4 pts

Group C: PSG 13 pts, Olympiakos 10 pts, Benfica 10 pts, Anderlecht 1 pts

Group D: Bayern Munich 15 pts, Manchester City 15 pts, Viktoria Plzen 3 pts, CSKA Moscow 3 pts

Group E: Chelsea 12 pts, Schalke 10 pts, FC Basel 8 pts, Steaua Bucharest 3 pts

Group F: Dortmund 12 pts, Arsenal 12 pts, Napoli 12 pts, Marseille 0 pts

Group G: Atletico Madrid 16 pts, Zenit St. Petersburg 6 pts, Porto 5 pts, Austria Vienna 5 pts

Group H: Barcelona 13 pts, AC Milan 9 pts, Ajax 8 pts, Celtic 3 pts

As UEFA rules state, a club cannot face a club from the same country in the Round of 16, nor can it can face the other team which has qualified from the same group. So, that leaves City's potential opponent to be either Madrid, PSG, Dortmund, Atletico, or Barca. Personally, my preference would be PSG, then Atletico, then Dortmund, then Barca, and then Madrid, in that order. They would all be tough opponents, though.

Thoughts on our potential enemies? Who would you like to see City face? The draw will take place at 6 AM EST, this coming Monday.