Arsenal were handed a nightmare draw against reigning champions Barcelona as the Gunners attempt to go beyond the last-16 stage of the Champions League for the first time in six years.
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Manchester City, who like Chelsea topped their group, are set to meet Dynamo Kyiv.
Sevilla, knocked out of the Champions League last week, will launch its bid for a hat trick of Europa League titles against Norwegian club Molde after the draw for the last 32 was made Monday.
And, according to Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo’s print edition, the Barcelona squad were so pleased with drawing the Gunners that they erupted with happiness after Arsenal’s name was read out.
Barcelona director of sporting institutional relations Albert Soler said he was looking forward to “a very attractive game”.
“The only guarantee we have is that we’ll have two great teams playing two great games”. It’s a last-16 tie and, if you have a bad ten minutes, we know what the consequences can be. “It’s not going to be easy and it’s probably the one team that most Arsenal fans wanted to avoid at this stage”.
Apart from these ties, the Champions League draw also threw up some scintillating match-ups between the other bigwigs left in the competition.
Last year PSG eliminated Chelsea at the same stage of the competition and the year before went on eliminating the French in the Quaterfinals.
Dutch team PSV Eindhoven plays 2014 finalist Atletico Madrid and Benfica tackles Zenit St. Petersburg.
Gent, in their first participation in the competition, will take on Germany’s VfL Wolfsburg.
Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain said: “They have a good side (Kiev)and it will be hard for us”.
Having drawn 1-1 in France, they looked as good as through at Stamford Bridge when they were leading 2-1 in stoppage time, only for Thiago Silva to score at the death for 10-man PSG to shatter Jose Mourinho’s hopes of winning the trophy with a third team.
Arsenal will host the five-time champions on 23 February after advancing to the knockout round for the 16th successive season.
Arsenal have only beaten Barcelona once in their history, a 2-1 win at the Emirates in 2011 that saw a 19-year-old Jack Wilshere take centre stage as he put in a stunning performance.
Manchester City were dealt a kinder hand in the last 16, in the form of a tie with Dynamo Kiev, the away leg of which will be played behind closed doors because the Ukrainian club are serving a stadium ban.
Rudi Garcia, Roma manager: “Real Madrid will be favourites”.
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The first legs of the tournament will be played from the 16th-17th of February.
