My first thought would be that it seems like it was made at Old Trafford - I don't think they could have hoped for a better outcome.My second thought is that there is a really strong sense of deja-vu about all of this. Villarreal played Arsenal in the semi-finals three years ago and United and Porto feel like they have played a million times before. Maybe they haven't, but the memorable tie was the one that launched Jose Mourinho's career in 2004. Chelsea and Liverpool have played each other an incredible amount of times in the past year and, although Barcelona and Bayern Munich don't have too much recent history, they will be rather annoyed that they have drawn each other.I think Bayern Munich certainly have the tools to win - they would have been one of my outsiders at the start of the season.Complicating things for Bayern is that after assembling such a strong squad in the summer, they thought they were going to walk the Bundesliga, but instead things are incredibly tight. Hertha are top of the league, but Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim and Hamburg are all putting them under pressure. So in their minds Bayern would have hoped to lock up the league and devote all their time and attention to the Champions League. That's not the case at all so that goes against them.I think Arsenal are the favourites, but I don't know that they are strong favourites. I think the way Arsenal play means that they are always going to be open to conceding goals. They are not a clinical side and they are certainly not a side that puts ten men behind the ball.But Villarreal are a side that can hurt you. In Marcus Senna they have one of the better holding midfielders and Giusseppe Rossi, one of the better young strikers on the Continent. So I think the tools are there.Villarreal have already shown that they are a threat this season, drawing with United twice. And since everyone over in England is going crazy about United's chances and proclaiming them as the best team since I don't know when, Villarreal have to be seen as realistic outsiders, they are a tricky customer.Having said that, I think the edge has to be with Arsenal since by the time they play I expect Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor to be fit.I think it's going to be very tough. Jesualdo Ferreira, their manager, is a guy who has endured so much criticism from day one but he and his team have overcome that and as a result Porto have a wonderful resilience about them. By hook or by crook they get the results.Certainly they have had a little bit of good fortune on their side this season, but they have real flare. In Lisandro Lopez they have a player who although I am not in love with him, many others feel is the best striker outside the major European leagues. Lucho Gonzalez is an absolute bad-ass in midfield and I am sure a lot of tabloid headline writers will have a lot of fun with the fact that Porto have a centre forward named Hulk.I think this is a very tough one to call because you have to balance this tie against what might happen in the league. I don't know that Hiddink has necessarily transformed anything, certainly he wouldn't say he has, he's just not Scolari. He's very good at managing short-term situations, as he has shown in the past.It's hard to find a way to knock what Liverpool are doing. People have said "you can't win without Torres" and they did. People said "you can't win without Gerrard" and they did. And people said "you can't win without Gerrard and Torres" and they went to the Bernabeu, without either of them, and won.Liverpool are tailor-made for knockout football and I don't think that there is a better manager in the world in this two-legged situation. So I think it is going to be absolutely fascinating to see Benitez cross swords with Hiddink.On paper, United have to be favourites because it's almost as if Sir Alex himself has made this draw.On the other hand, I have to stick to my belief that the favourites rarely win in knockout football. So with that in mind, I will lean toward whoever comes through the Liverpool v Chelsea semi-final.I think if Bayern get past Barcelona they will be very tough and I also think Villarreal are capable of springing a real surprise but i still fancy my chelsea to go for treble in fact am more optimistic now after double slip by man utd thou am disappointed we didn't capitalize on their recent loss to fulham but still we can sneak it up....tell me what you think.....lugwaja