The knock-out round

By far the toughest draw of any of the German teams is that of VfB Stuttgart, who advanced from the group stage of the Champions League despite sitting fourth from bottom in the Bundesliga standings. Their opponent in the Round of 16 will be defending Champions League title-holders FC Barcelona.

"With FC Barcelona, we've drawn one of the strongest teams," said Horst Heldt, Stuttgart's sporting director. "We're clear underdogs."

Bayern Munich, on the other hand, had relatively good luck with their draw in the Champions League. They'll be facing Italian side Fiorentina, who are in ninth place in Italy's Serie A.

"I think we could have had a much more difficult draw," said Bayern's coach Loius van Gaal, whose team has climbed to third in the Bundesliga in recent weeks. Bayern played well against Fiorentina in the group stage of last year's Champions League, winning 3-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away.

Teams in the Round of 16 play a home-and-away two-legged match against their opponents, and the winner is determined by aggregate score. Stuttgart host Barcelona on February 23 and play in Spain on March 17. Munich also begins their series at home on February 17, and travel to Florence on March 9.

The other tournament

Four German squads - Werder Bremen, Hertha Berlin, Hamburg, and Wolfsburg - have reached the Round of 32 in the Europa League.

Bremen, Berlin, and Hamburg reached the knock-out stage by finishing in the top half of their group in the group stage. Wolfsburg, meanwhile earned their spot after a third place finish in the Champions League group stage bounced them down into the Europa League.

Both Bremen and Hamburg drew teams from Holland's Eredivisie. Hamburg is up against traditional powerhouse PSV Eindhoven, who have won the Dutch Championship 21 times and are currently second in the league. Werder Bremen, who were the beaten finalists in last year's UEFA Cup competition, face Holland's current table-topper, Twente Enschede.

Wolfsburg drew Spanish side FC Villarreal, who lie tenth in the Spanish division. Hertha Berlin, currently dead last in the Bundesliga, will face Benfica, Portugal's record title holders.

The first knock-out round of the Europa League will be played over two legs on February 18 and 25. The winners will advance to the Round of 16 for another home and away series on March 11 and 18.

Should the German sides advance to the Round of 16, their potential opponents are as follows: Hamburg against the winner of Athletic Bilbao/Anderlecht, Werder Bremen against the winner of Club Bruges/Valencia, Wolfsburg against the winner of Rubin Kazan/Hapoel Tel Aviv, and Hertha Berlin against the winner of Atletico Madrid/Galatasaray.

mz/Reuters/SID
Editor: Matt Hermann