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MANCHESTER CITY have been drawn against Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League, while Chelsea have also been handed a tough tie against PSG. Arsenal meanwhile, have been drawn against Arsène Wenger’s former side, Monaco.
The Manchester club lost 4-1 on aggregate to Barcelona at the same stage in last season’s competition and Manuel Pellegrini’s side will host the Catalan side in the first leg at the Etihad stadium in February.
City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain, a former Barcelona player and director labelled the draw as “unbelievable”, adding: “Every tie’s the same, we had Bayern Munich and CSKA Moscow in the group phase, and now we have to deal again with Barcelona.
“Beating Bayern Munich and then beating Roma away, we are confident and will arrive in a good moment to these games.”
Chelsea finished top of their group and had could have drawn any one of Juventus, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar Donetsk or PSG but landed the French champions, who finished runners-up in their group behind Barcelona. Chelsea drew PSG in the quarter-finals in last-season’s campaign, beating them on away goals, with Demba Ba scoring what proved to be the decisive goal in the dying moments of the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea secretary David Barnard said: “Obviously PSG are known to us because we played them in the quarter-finals last year and they’ve got the added ingredient of David Luiz playing for them. José (Mourinho) said before the draw that he’d have liked to see PSG for our supporters, for the travel and the logistics, and he was right.”
Arsenal’s draw against Monaco is seen as a favourable one, with the London club avoiding playing any one of Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Porto and Barcelona. Arsène Wenger made his name at Monaco, managing the Ligue 1 side from 1987-1994.
Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey was quick to respond to the draw, writing on Twitter: “Monaco! I’m sure our fans will enjoy the away trip… great place, great draw!” Arsenal secretary David Miles added on Sky Sports News: “We’ve picked some of the biggest teams in Europe over the last five years but we’re certainly not taking anything for granted, Monaco have earned the right to be here. It’s the first time we’ve played Monaco in a competitive match so I’m sure Arsène will be delighted at going back to one of his former teams.”
Current European champions Real Madrid will again play Schalke, having thrashed the German side 9-2 on aggregate at the same stage last year, while last season’s beaten finalists Atlético Madrid face Bayer Leverkusen in another Spain-Germany match-up following the draw in Nyon yesterday.
Five-time winners Bayern Munich take on Shakhtar Donetsk, Juventus will play Borussia Dortmund in a repeat of the 1997 final while Basel’s Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa will seek to eliminate Porto.
First-leg ties will be played 17 to18 February or 24 to 25 February and second-leg ties will be played on either on March 10 to 11 and March 17 to 18 next year, with the final being played on 6 June in Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
The last-16 draw in full
PSG v Chelsea
Manchester City v Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen v Atlético Madrid
Juventus v Borussia Dortmund
Schalke v Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich
Arsenal v Monaco
Basel v Porto . — The Guardian
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