With the UEFA Champions League round of 16 fast approaching, UEFA.com explains how to say those tricky names correctly.

ARSENAL

London is around 150km from Calais, but the linguistic distances between English and French are huge when it comes to pronunciations, a situation which has led to generations of French Arsenal players having their names mangled on the terraces.



Héctor Bellerín – Hector Bay-air-een

Petr Čech – Pet-r Chekh

Francis Coquelin – Francis Cock-er-lan

Mathieu Debuchy – Mat-yur De-boo-she

Olivier Giroud – Olivier Gee-roo

Laurent Koscielny – Lo-ron Ko-sea-el-ni

Mesut Özil – Mesut Er-zil

Granit Xhaka – Granit Chaka

An-twan Gree-ez-man ©AFP/Getty Images

ATLÉTICO MADRID

Basic rules: a 'ć' in the former Yugoslavian languages is a 'ch' and the 'š' is a 'sh'. Antoine Griezmann's surname has an extra syllable in it which most English speakers tend to miss.



Nicolás Gaitán – Guy-tan

Antoine Griezmann – An-twan Gree-ez-man

Koke – Ko-kay

Saúl Ñíguez – Sow-ool Nyee-gess

Stefan Savić – Sa-vich

Nicolás Schiappacasse – Ski-appa-cass-ey

Šime Vrsaljko – Shee-may Ver-sal-ko

BARCELONA

Barcelona's universal popularity has ironed out most pronunciation errors, but Lucas Digne is a tricky one and don't forget that Ivan Rakitić's 'ć' is a 'ch' for English speakers.



Lucas Digne – Loo-cah Dee-nyuh

Ivan Rakitić – Ra-key-titch

Man-well Noy-er ©Getty Images

BAYERN MÜNCHEN

Manuel Neuer's surname can be a problem for English-speakers, who tend to panic when they see more than two vowels in a row. For Robert Lewandowski, remember that the Polish 'w' is more like an English 'v'.



Joshua Kimmich – Kim-ikh

Robert Lewandowski – Le-van-dov-ski

Manuel Neuer – Man-well Noy-er

BENFICA

The widespread assumption for English speakers that Portuguese is a bit like Spanish is one that should be challenged – the two languages sound very different. However, it is Benfica's foreign signings that may prove the easiest to mispronounce.

Woo-cash Peace-check ©AFP/Getty Images

Franco Cervi – Chair-vee

Ljubomir Fejsa – Fay-sa

Gonçalo Guedes – Gair-diss

Victor Lindelöf – Linda-love



BORUSSIA DORTMUND

German and English have plenty in common – and reassuringly, Marco Reus's surname is very similar in pronunciation to the English surname 'Royce'. Łukasz Piszczek's name can also be rendered much less scary to English speakers by a phonetic translation, while pronouncing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's name the French way saves you a syllable – no small achievement in austere times. American-born Christian Pulišić does not pronounce his name the Croatian way.



Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – Oh-bam-yong

Alexander Isak – Ee-sack

Łukasz Piszczek – Woo-cash Peesh-check

Christian Pulišić – Police-sick

Marco Reus - Royce

Nuri Şahin – Noo-ree Shah-hin

Roman Weidenfeller – Vye-den-feller

JUVENTUS

The Italian 'ch' is more like a 'k' for English speakers, whereas the Croatian 'ć' is an English 'ch'. Gonzalo Higuaín's name has three vowels in a row – a red light for English speakers – but can be anglicised elegantly enough. Croatia is just across the Adriatic from Italy, so imagine Marco Pjaca's name as an Italian 'piazza' and you will be pretty much there.



Gianluigi Buffon – Boo-fon

Giorgio Chiellini – Kee-ell-ee-nee

Gonzalo Higuaín – Ee-gway-een

Mario Mandžukić – Man-joo-kitch

Claudio Marchisio – Mar-kee-sio

Marko Pjaca – Pee-at-za

Miralem Pjanić – Pee-ah-nitch

Lay-oh-nar-doe Oo-show-ah ©AFP/Getty Images

LEICESTER CITY

English fans have spent decades being proud of making the effort with Peter and then Kasper Schmeichel's surname, but it seems we all got it wrong – they are not Shmai-kels but Smai-kels. Leonardo Ulloa's name has lots of vowels and sounds nothing like it would naturally in English.



Robert Huth - Hoot

Bartosz Kapustka – Bar-tosh

Kasper Schmeichel – Smai-kel

Leonardo Ulloa – Lay-oh-nar-doe Oo-show-ah

BAYER LEVERKUSEN

Like its German counterpart, an umlauted Turkish 'ö' softens the vowel down to something like an English 'er'. Hakan Çalhanoğlu's surname is difficult, especially that 'ğ' – which is a softer version of a combative Scottish 'och'. Take a deep breath and do not panic, and you can do it.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu – Chall-han-och-loo

Aleksandar Dragović – Drago-vitch

Tin Jedvaj – Yed-vye

Ramazan Özcan – Erz-jan

Joel Pohjanpalo – Po-hyan-pallo

Ömer Toprak – Er-mar Top-rukh

Ilk-eye Gun-doch-wan ©AFP/Getty Images

MANCHESTER CITY

Most English-language commentators have worked out that Spanish speakers pronounce the name Jesús very differently to English ones. İlkay Gündoğan's many accents can alarm, but imagine that 'ğ' as a very soft Scottish-style 'och' and you will get there.

Willy Caballero – Caba-yair-o

İlkay Gündoğan - Ilk-eye Gun-doch-wan

Jesús Navas – Hess-oos

Bacary Sagna – Sa-nyah

MONACO

The Croatian 'š' and 'č' are effectively an English 'sh' and 'ch', Tiémoué Bakayoko's name has a lot of vowels, and it transpires we have all been pronouncing João Moutinho's name wrong for years.

Tiémoué Bakayoko – Tee-ay-moo-ay

João Moutinho – Joo-ow Mow-cheen-oo

Danijel Subašić – Sooba-shitch

El-say-eed Hoo-sigh ©AFP/Getty Images

NAPOLI

Elseid Hysaj packs a lot of syllables into his 11-character name, while Vlad Chiricheş's surname is full of 'false friends' for English speakers – the Romanian 'ch' is not the same as an English one. Marek Hamšík, meanwhile, is not sick of ham, as English speakers might hope.



Vlad Chiricheş – Kiri-kesh

Emanuele Giaccherini – Ja-care-ee-nee

Marek Hamšík – Ham-sheek

Elseid Hysaj – El-say-eed Hoo-sigh

Lorenzo and Roberto Insigne – In-scene-yer

Nikola Maksimović – Mak-sim-ov-itch

Ivan Strinić – Stree-nitch

Piotr Zieliński – Zhee-el-een-ski

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

The French language's many vowels continue to frighten English speakers, with Polish names in the Paris squad intensifying that sense of Anglo-Saxon dread. Take heart: it is easier than it looks.

Serge Aurier – Or-ee-ay

Grzegorz Krychowiak – G-sheg-orsh Kri-ko-vyak

Layvin Kurzawa – Kur-zha-va

Thomas Meunier – Mer-nee-air

Ee-care Ca-see-yass ©AFP/Getty Images

PORTO

Years of effort have almost eradicated the English tendency to pronounce Iker Casillas's first name as if he worked as an optician (eye care).

Iker Casillas – Ee-care Ca-see-yass

Jesús Corona – Hess-oos

Laurent Depoitre – Lo-ron Der-pwat-r

REAL MADRID

Pepe does not use that second vowel if you pronounce his name in Portuguese, while the 'oo' in Toni Kroos's surname does not sound like English speakers would like it to. The Colombian pronounciation of the common English first name 'James' is also markedly different.



Dani Carvajal – Car-va-hal

Mateo Kovačić – Ko-va-chitch

Toni Kroos - Crows

Luka Modrić – Mod-rich

Pepe - Pep

James Rodríguez – Ha-mess

SEVILLA

Benoît Trémoulinas's name takes a bit of unpacking, and Daniel Carriço's sounds a good deal softer in his native Portuguese than you would expect. English speakers meanwhile will be relieved that Thimothée Kolodziejczak was loaned out to Mönchengladbach during the winter break.

Daniel Carriço – Car-hiss-oh

Stevan Jovetić – Yo-veh-titch

Benoît Trémoulinas – Ben-wah Tray-moo-lee-nass