Champions League Draw: Chelsea FC will face S.L. Benfica in the quarterfinal round

It could be better, it could be worse. Chelsea fans had their hearts in their mouths for a bit as the only three clubs remaining in the pot when Benfica were drawn were Barcelona, AC Milan, and Chelsea FC. Luckily for us, Chelsea were pulled next and will begin their quest to reach the semifinal stage in Ramires and David Luiz's old stomping ground.

Benfica are a strong attacking club, and boast a pair of wingers in Nolito and Nicolas Gaitan who could cause real problems for the Chelsea fullbacks. Oscar Cordozo is a fairly physically menacing target man, but he doesn't offer a whole lot in the way of pace or sneaky running that typically bother our center backs. Benfica are a bit shaky defensively, and they offer very little in the way of pace on their back line. All in all, this could be much, much worse. It's the first fairly kind draw that we've had this season.

Should Chelsea manage to advance beyond the quarterfinal stage, the winner of the AC Milan/Barcelona affair will be awaiting us. That stage of the tournament would involve a home first leg and a trip to continental Europe for the second leg. Looking that far ahead is probably putting the cart before the horse though, so for now let's all cross our fingers and hope Milan can wipe out Barcelona.

Update: The dates for the quarterfinal have been set. We'll travel to Portugal for the March 27th tie while hosting Benfica in the return leg April 4th.