Arsenal draw Barcelona and Chelsea face PSG in Champions League last-16
Chelsea meanwhile have been drawn to lock horns with the French champions Paris Saint-Germain, who put them out of the competition last term.
Manchester City topped their group for the first time ever thanks to a sensational comeback against Borussia Monchengladbach and were paired with Dynamo Kyiv during yesterday’s draw in Nyon.
The match will be the second of two Kyiv have been ordered to play behind closed doors because of the misconduct of their supporters, including racist chanting. “It should be two fantastic games and we’re very much looking forward to it”. It will be a very tough fixture list and I hope everyone will be fit and raring to go against Chelsea to fulfil our ambitions.
In the 2006 final, the Catalan club won 2-1 thanks to a late Juliano Belletti goal, and in 2010 Arsenal lost 6-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals.
Up front, they possess one of the most fearsome strikeforces the world has ever seen – Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
“As always, we have respect for the opponent”.
City will be pleased to have avoided the risky PSG as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time but their fans may be frustrated about the Kyiv situation.
Zenit, who boast the third highest scorer in the group phase in Artem Dzyuba, tackle Portuguese side Benfica, while Atletico Madrid have been drawn against PSV and Wolfsburg clash with Gent.
Second legs will be played from the 8th-9th and the 15th-16th of March.
It is the game between the pacesetters in Spain and Arsenal which most catches the eye, however.
Barcelona director Albert Soler certainly believes the tie will produce a feast of football.
“So that was the only team out of that batch of teams they could have got that I didn’t want them to get”.
“We’re in a rich vein of form at the moment, we’re sitting top of the Premier League and come February and March we’ll have some of our top players back from injury hopefully, so it’ll be great to take them on with our full strength side if we could”.
City are a solid, well-balanced team, but we have already played against them and had success.
“We ousted them in 2012-13 when we won the Champions League”.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi saw the French outfit extend their unbeaten start to the domestic season with a crushing 5-1 victory over Lyon on Sunday, but knows a stern test lays ahead – starting with Chelsea – on the club’s path to their ultimate goal of European glory.