The draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 is Friday morning (6 a.m. ET), as the eight first-place teams from the group stage will be paired against the eight group runners-up. The only rule is that teams from the same group or country cannot be drawn against each other. Here are five notes to get you ready for the festivities in Nyon, Switzerland:

• Italy is the only country with three teams in the Round of 16, marking the seventh straight season at least three Italian clubs have reached this stage. England and Spain have only two apiece, the fewest in the knockout stage for England since 2002-03, and the fewest for Spain since 2004-05. Both CSKA Moscow and Zenit are in the Round of 16, the first time that Russia has two clubs in the knockout round.

• Real Madrid is in the knockout stage for the 15th consecutive year, the longest streak in the Champions League era. Arsenal extended its run to 12 straight years past the group stage, the second-longest active streak. Chelsea and (most surprisingly) Lyon are next on the list at nine straight seasons each.

• Three clubs are in the Champions League knockout stage for the first time. Swiss club Basel and Cypriot club APOEL are the first teams from their countries to reach the knockout round. Italian side Napoli also joins them as a novice at this stage.

• Seven former European Cup winners are in the Round of 16, with six of those clubs holding multiple titles. Real Madrid (nine titles) and AC Milan (seven) top the all-time list. Barcelona and Bayern Munich are tied for fourth-most crowns with four each. Inter Milan is right behind them with three, tied with the shockingly absent Manchester United. Benfica won its two titles consecutively a half-century ago, in 1961 and 1962. Marseille rounds out the list with its title in 1992-93, the first season the competition was officially known as Champions League.

• To no one's surprise, the least desired opponents in the draw should be Barcelona and Real Madrid, which are by far the two best teams in Europe according to ESPN's Soccer Power Index. Also intuitively, Basel and APOEL are the lowest-rated clubs remaining, which makes them ideal matchups in the Round of 16. For more on ideal and nightmare draw scenarios, check out Albert Larcada's Insider column.