I would agree with the sides but not the order. Its almost impossible to pick the strongest and weakest from that list as the strength is incredible.
There's NO WAY I can agree with Madrid being 2nd strongest overall at this point. It is entirely possible that they'll fail to advance. I think they'll pull it out, but they're probably going to be in a position of going to Moscow and needing a win to advance. Hopefully, the winter weather doesn't bother them.
Well, Milan and Man United are in the quarterfinals already, so weather I think they should qualify or not is not very interesting (although these are both clubs I love to hate). But the other 6 should be, IMHO; Barcelona, Newcastle, Ajax, Arsenal, Dortmund, Deportivo. More a wish-list than a prediction, one could argue, but when it comes to Ajax & Arsenal I'm serious. They are the better teams of group B. And I can easily see Real Madrid repeating their results from the fall against Lokomotiv Moskva and Milan, thus giving the second place to Dortmund.
I think the initial list was more about reputation and potential than current reality. Juventus, Valencia and Madrid have been poor in the second phase. Ajax alone have done better than all 3. Newcastle have been just as good as Inter despite the intial defeat to them. They played Barcelona at their own game in the Nou Camp and could have drawn. Only Ac Milan Barcelona and Man U deserve to high on the list. STRONGEST is not simple to workout. Arsenal are better than ManU and can beat them comfortably, but ManU do better generally in Europe.
in alphabetical order- ac milan ajax arsenal barcelona juventus (they played bad lately because of rampant flu) manchester united newcastle (1/2 of inter is in sickbay) real madrid (its there for dortmund, yet they havent taken it)