Paris St Germain
Coach: Carlo Ancelotti
Star man: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Champions League best: Semi-finals 1995
Former Chelsea boss Ancelotti is under huge pressure to deliver for the club's Qatari owners who splashed out big-time in the summer and expect results. Winning their group was a positive after blowing the title last term but Ibrahimovic, who finally proved himself to England fans with those four goals in Stockholm last month, is the key to everything.
Schalke
Coach: Jens Keller
Star man: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Champions League best: Semi-finals 2011
Having surprised Arsenal to top Group B, the German outfit look to have persuaded Dutch striker Huntelaar, whose contract runs out in the summer, to stay at the Veltins Arena. Since losing to Manchester United in the last four two seasons ago, Schalke have lost keeper Manuel Neuer and Spanish veteran Raul but remain organised and dangerous. Hard to beat on home soil.
Malaga
Coach: Manuel Pelligrini
Star man: Isco
Champions League best: Never before qualified
A season that looked as if it would be disastrous when the club's Qatari owners threatened to pull the financial plug has instead seen the Champions League rookies stun AC Milan to top Group C. Spanish prodigy Isco is the pin-up boy of a squad that includes veteran Argentines Martin Demichelis and Javier Saviola, former Arsenal striker Julio Baptista and on-loan Manchester City man Roque Santa Cruz.
Borussia Dortmund
Coach: Jurgen Klopp
Star man: Mario Gotze
Champions League best: Winners 1997
Gotze and fellow youngster Marco Reus are two of the thrilling next German generation and topping a group that included Real Madrid and humiliated Manchester City was further evidence to bolster Klopp's growing reputation as a boss to be reckoned with. Terrific coming forward and with the advantage of playing at arguably the best ground in Europe, Dortmund will be dreaming of emulating Ottmar Hitzfeld's team of 16 seasons ago.
Juventus
Coach: Antonio Conte
Star man: Andrea Pirlo
Champions League best: Winners 1985, 1996
Conte's six-month over match-fixing allegations did not prevent the Italian champions putting Chelsea to the sword in their outstanding new home on the outskirts of Turin and ending up top of the pile. Pirlo remains the master and string puller but Gigi Buffon is still as good a keeper as you will find and the exciting attacking style deployed by the coach ensures they will fancy their chances of a long run, especially after drawing Celtic.
Bayern Munich
Coach: Jupp Heynckes
Star man: Bastian Schweinsteiger
Champions League best: Winners 1974, 1975, 1976, 2001
Last season's beaten finalists will never forget the anguish of May but winning the European crown back once more in the home city of last season's conquerors would have poetic justice. Already nine points clear of the field in the Bundesliga despite a mini-blip and no longer reliant on Robben or Ribery, who remain in the squad. Heynckes, who won with Real Madrid days before being sacked in 1998, aims to head into retirement this summer with the big one. A tough gig for the Gunners.
Barcelona
Coach: Tito Vilanova
Star man: Lionel Messi
Champions League best: Winners: 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011
Vilanova's brain tumour relapse has cast a pall across Catalonia and football as a whole this season but any questions about Barca in the post-Guardiola era have been answered thrillingly by the perhaps the best team Europe has ever seen. Messi is the little master, aided and abetted by Iniesta and Xavi, as well as the rest of the team of hunter-destroyers. How they respond to Vilanova's horrendous news is as yet unclear, of course. But the only club to lift the trophy at Wembley twice is understandably confident of completing the treble.
Manchester United
Manager: Sir Alex Ferguson
Star man: Wayne Rooney
Champions League best: Winners 1968, 1999, 2008
Robin Van Persie has given a United side with a wobbly back line the cutting edge to make a difference although it is when Rooney is on song that the Old Trafford outfit are at their best. Fergie, who turns 71, might be having his last shot at the biggest pot of all but is fired up by memories of what Barca did to him under the Arch in 2011. The return of skipper Nemanja Vidic could not have been more timely or required and United have to tighten up to be Real contenders, let alone real contenders. Nobody will write them off, though.
Porto
Coach: Vitor Pereira
Star man: Joao Moutinho
Champions League best: Winners 1987, 2004
Andre Villas-Boas' former assistant Pereira may have lost the goals of Radomel Falcao but still has a more than decent team who will back themselves to get through the first knock-out round. The likely key to that will be whether they can hold onto schemer Joao Moutinho, who was on the verge of joining Spurs in the summer and will be targeted again, and Colombian striker Jackson Martinez. Remember, too, that Jose Mourinho's Porto were a sum greater than their constituent parts.
Arsenal
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Star man: Jack Wilshere
Champions League best: Finalists 2006
Once more into the knock-out phase, a feat that looks better with the failures of Chelsea and Manchester City, but this has been a tough season for Wenger and the siren calls of those who want his reign to be ended are growing louder. Not that anything will make the Frenchman give up his principles yet the Gunners have yet to fill the gaping hole left by the departure of Robin Van Persie. Chelsea proved last year that the team that finishes sixth in the Premier League can rule Europe but it would be a mighty ask for Arsenal to go all the way, even tougher now.
AC Milan
Coach: Massimiliano Allegri
Star man: Stephan El Shaarawy
Champions League best: Winners: 1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007
Second only to Real Madrid in the all-time list, these are relatively dark days for the San Siro giants, who are suffering from the purse strings being cut by owner Silvio Berlusconi and find themselves a lowly seventh in Serie A with few expectations they will climb back into the top three. El Shaarawy has been the glittering exception to the general rule with 14 goals already this season but squeezing through with just eight points is an indication of where Milan truly are, surely not good enough to overcome Barca.
Real Madrid
Coach: Jose Mourinho
Star man: Cristiano Ronaldo
Champions League best: Winners 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002
The search for "the 10th" has become an obsession for the Bernebeu fans but with Mourinho seemingly on his way in the summer, the Special One will be determined to seal his legacy. Miles off the pace in La Liga, Mourinho is likely to concentrate on his personal quest to become the first manager to win with three different clubs. Now has the chance to make a case for the United job that even the doubtful Old Trafford hierarchy might find compelling. You know he will revel in the opportunity.
Shakhtar Donetsk
Coach: Mircea Lucescu
Star man Willian
Champions League best: Quarter-finals 2011
Perhaps the most attractive side in the whole of Europe outside of Barcelona, wily veteran Romanian Lucescu is reaping the rewards for nine years in one of the continent's most easterly footballing outposts. Shakhtar are far more of a Brazilian side than a Ukrainian one, with Willian's talents augmented by the formidable Fernandinho, Douglas Costa, Luiz Adriano and more. But they also raid from deep and play swift counter-attacking football. Hardest task is keeping the side together over the winter.
Valencia
Coach: Ernesto Valverde
Star man: Roberto Soldado
Champions League best: Finalists 2000, 2001
Even when Hector Cuper and then Rafa Benitez were in charge, Valencia was a selling club but the past decade has seen a rapid acceleration which makes even qualifying for the Champions League an achievement. Had Valverde still got the likes of David Villa, David Silva and Juan Mata at his disposal, they could be a serious threat. The reality is somewhat different, despite the bear-pit that is the Mestalla. In truth, an ordinary team that most of the group winners would have been happy to draw.
Celtic
Manager: Neil Lennon
Star man: Gary Hooper
Champions League best: Winners 1967
It seems like a fairytale that a team drawn from the same city could actually master Europe and Neil Lennon does not expect his side to come close to replicating the achievement of Lennox and Co in Lisbon 45 years ago. Escaping the group phase was a massive result for the Bhoys and even if they go out in the last 16, nobody can ever take away the memories of that magical night against Barcelona. Nor should they. Going much further, though, would be more than against the odds, indeed, little short of a miracle.
Galatasaray
Coach: Fatih Terim
Star man: Burak Yilmaz
Champions League best: Semi-final 1989
A comeback win at Braga in their final group match saw the Turkish side make the last 16 and the Turk Telekom Arena fans will already be preparing their Welcome to Hell banners, even if the sparkling new arena does not come close to the intimidation factor of the old Ali Sami Yen. Terim, in charge when Galatasaray beat Arsenal in the 2000 UUEFA Cup Final, is now back for his third spell at the helm after jobs with Milan, Fiorentina and the Turkish national side. Tough to beat at home but hardly the best travellers.