Chronicle EditorPARIS. – Holders Real Madrid were drawn against Paris St Germain in the standout tie from yesterday’s Champions League soccer last-16 draw and Barcelona will take on Chelsea.
Real, bidding for a 13th title and third in a row, finished runners-up in their group and paid the price with an extremely tough draw against the big-spending Parisian club.
And Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid will continue their bid for a first European Cup treble in 40 years against Neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain after the big-spending duo were yesterday drawn together in a mouth-watering Champions League last 16 clash. No club has won the European title three years running since Bayern Munich in the mid-1970s, underlining how big an achievement it would be if Madrid – 12 times winners overall – won the trophy again in the final in Kiev in May.
They know exactly what it takes to be European champions, and in Ronaldo have the most prolific goal-scorer in the competition’s history. Last season’s runners-up Juventus will meet Tottenham Hotspur, one of five English clubs in the draw. Runaway English Premier league leaders Manchester City, who have never won Europe’s biggest club prize, will face Swiss club Basel.
Five-times winners Bayern Munich were drawn with Turkish outsiders Besiktas, Manchester United take on Sevilla and Liverpool will meet Porto. AS Roma’s reward for winning their group was a two-legged tie against Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk. The first legs take place on February 13-14 and February 20-21 with the returns on March 6-7 and March 13-14.
Emilio Butragueno, a Real Madrid director and former striker, regretted that one of the favourites (Real Madrid and PSG) would be eliminated so soon in the competition. “For the potential of the two teams, luck has worked out this way and one of the two teams will be out at the last 16 stage, which we think is a bit soon taking into account they are two of the contenders for the title,” Butragueno told BeIN Sports Spain.
PSG made waves in the transfer market in the close season when they signed Brazilian star Neymar for a world-record 222 million euros ($261.5 million), followed closely by great French hope Kylian Mbappe, who will cost 180m euros when his loan deal becomes permanent next summer. – Reuters.
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