PSG captain Thiago Silva: ‘No winter break could harm Chelsea in Europe’
Arsenal and Chelsea face familiar foes in the Champions League after they were once again drawn against their European nemeses Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
In other ties, Bayern Munich were drawn against Juventus and Real Madrid were also paired with Italian opposition in Roma. I think most Arsenal fans would have wanted to avoid them but it’s up to us to put on a performance. We couldn’t play against Real [Madrid], because they were in our group, but we could play against Barcelona and Bayern [Munich].
“We hoped for better luck in the draw, but we’re confident we can put in two good performances”, said the former Juve star. 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.
“Chelsea are playing at Christmas and new year and that must be a great effort for them, a very hard moment both mentally and physically”, the Brazil centre-back told Omnisport. We’re working each and every day with our players to be fit and ready.
However, the club’s official website took the interesting decision of adding Danish club Brondby into the club’s fixture list alongside the reigning Champions League winners, in an embarrassing gaffe that has been jumped on by the usual social media sharks.
Arsenal made it through the Champions League group stages in the most dramatic fashion – and its reward is a last-16 clash with Barcelona, arguably the most-feared team in Europe’s top football competition.
Technical secretary Robert Fernandez, now in Japan for the Club World Cup, said: “It’s an open and hard tie.
If you want to say it’s 50-50, then say it’s 50-50; I don’t know”. “We are ambitious, we have 2½ months to prepare”, Olivier Létang, the PSG sports director, said. “If we see ourselves as favorites, things won’t go well for us”, Real Madrid soccer director Emilio Butragueno said.
Manchester City booked their place in the knockout stages for the first time in their history after topping their group and they’ve been handed a favourable tie against Dynamo Kyiv.