The UEFA Champions League 09-10 is well and truly underway now. With 16 teams remaining in the competition, the upcoming fortnight of second leg fixtures will decide who progresses to the quarter finals. Following some interesting opening ties there will be those clubs looking for redemption after initial losses and others seeking to hold on to their leads.

Arsenal's captain Cesc Fabregas has sworn that he will not be moving back to his home country of Spain despite the fact that his club may well be on their way out of the Champion's League following a 2-1 defeat to FC Porto in Portugal. Porto are looking to make amends for the embarrassment they suffered when Brazilian striker Hulk was banned for brawling on the field back in December.   

Also caught up in a ban is Fiorentina midfielder Massimo Gobbi who was red carded for a high-elbow in his teams opening tie with Bayern Munich, which they eventually lost 2-1. Bayern Munich striker Franck Ribery seems to have all the big clubs opening their checkbooks and his future in Germany seems uncertain. Fiorentina recently suffered a 0-1 defeat against domestic opponents AC Milan and have an upward struggle ahead of them. 

Milan have more pressing matters at hand as they are soon to travel to England to face Man Utd who won the first leg 2-3. The world's most famous footballer, Milan's David Beckham will be keen to pull it back against the club he used to captain. Aside from the Champions League tie there is much hype circling Old Trafford with regards to a potential US takeover bid. 

A recent poll determined that whilst Man Utd may see a lot of new money coming in next season, for now it is still Real Madrid who are top of the rich list of football clubs. The Spanish giants are soon to host Lyon who actually won the first leg in France 1-0. Lyon's manager Claude Puel says that "the club is getting stronger with each taste of victory".

Someone who needs to get stronger is John Terry. Chelsea's current captain and England's former captain has received much criticism as of late for his off-the-field escapades but needs to stay focused as he leads his team into the second leg against Inter Milan. Seria A leader's Inter are 2-1 up and looking strong. 
Representing Russia in the competition are CSKA Moscow. Despite having not played an official game in three months they were able to secure a draw when they hosted Sevilla. The tie now moves to Spain where Sevilla are struggling in fourth place in the domestic title race. 

1-0 was the result when French league leaders Bordeaux traveled to Greece to play Olympiakos. The hosts were furious when Enzo Maresca's last-minute equalizer was disallowed and are now looking at a tough second leg. 

Last year's UEFA Champion's League winners and current Spanish Numero Uno, Barcelona have not had the smoothest European campaign thus far. They did manage to draw 1-1 with VfB Stuttgart and the German club will now play at the Nou Camp next week.  

This next two weeks certainly promise to be very interesting with no clear favorites for the time being. The bookies will have a hard time figuring out who will progress as teams from eight European countries battle it out for a spot in the quarter finals at the end of the month. There is one solid bet to bank on though - the UEFA Champion's League 09-10 will be electric.