Home Sports UEFA Champions League last 16 draw: Arsenal to face Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain captain Thiago Silva believes Chelsea will be more risky in the Champions League as the club looks to salvage something from its horrendous season thus far.
Bayern Munich were handed a tough-looking draw against Juventus, while Real Madrid will also face Italian opposition in Roma.
What’s more, in what might be their last meaningful game of the year, Chelsea face a fight to remain in the Champions League, not just for this campaign but for the future.
City sporting director Txiki Begiristain said: “They are a strong side and play their football on the pitch”.
Holders Barcelona are relishing the prospect of locking horns with Arsenal, according to technical secretary Robert Fernandez. “Like I said, it will be complicated, but it’s an attractive game for the public”.
“They will be two great games”.
“Barca are used to playing under pressure in every sense”.
But the big game is, once again, Arsenal against Barcelona, and that old story of how Arsenal beat a club who have long had the upper hand over them, on and off the pitch.
They’ve also faced a couple of times in knockout rounds in the Pep Guardiola Era, and Barça won both ties as well.
“This is the third year we play against Chelsea so it has become some kind of a “clasico” for us”, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi said.
It’s a last-16 tie and, if you have a bad ten minutes, we know what the consequences can be. “We hope we have the same luck as a year ago”.
“Barca will have to be very focused and completely switched on because from now on there is no chance of rectifying any mistakes; during the group stages you still have room for error, but from now on, no”. “If we see ourselves as favourites things won’t go well for us”, Emilio Butragueño, the Real director, said.
Juventus may come to regret losing their group stage finale, leaving Manchester City, who will take on Dynamo Kyiv, with the better draw on paper.
“They have great players, Arsenal have a football philosophy that is similar to ours. But we hope to celebrate the qualification”.
Wolfsburg and PSV Eindhoven, the two sides that qualified at Manchester United’s expense, were paired with Gent and Atletico Madrid respectively.
First legs are scheduled to take place on 16-17 and 23-24 February with the return matches on 8th and 9th and 15th and 16th of March.
Dynamo Kyiv beat Manchester City in the 2010-11 Europa League last 16, with striker Mario Balotelli sent off for the English side. “Here we will be coming up against a fine team who have already won the Champions League“, Blanc added.
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