Chelsea were once again drawn against Paris Saint-Germain, the team that knocked out Jose Mourinho’s men last time around.
Advertisement
Manchester City, the third English side through to the knockout stages, will be happy to face Dynamo Kiev, against whom Chelsea picked up four points in the Group stage; the Ukraine leg of that tie will be played behind closed doors.
In fact drawing Arsenal could be a good omen for the Catalan club who went on to win the Champions League that season as they comfortably beat Manchester United in the final.
While Barcelona most famously came out on top in the 2006 final against an Arsenal side that scored first in their only Champions League final outing. There will be two fantastic games in London and Barcelona and we’re very much looking forward to it. They’ve beaten us twice in the last five or six years so it’s about time we turned the table on them.
“It is an attractive tie, Arsenal are a good team with magnificent players and they play really good football”.
Paris Saint-Germain boss Laurent Blanc claims a sense of familiarity with Chelsea will make it “easy” to prepare for their Champions League tie.
Benfica face Zenit St Petersburg.
Still, there was one fresh look in the eight pairings as the two newcomers to the knockout rounds were drawn together: Gent will host Wolfsburg first in Belgium. Barcelona are the standard for all of Europe’s great clubs, even for an individual as stubbornly single-minded as Wenger, and beating the greatest attacking team on the planet would be the kind of achievement that many believe is well beyond him now.
“As always, we have respect for the opponnent”.
Real Madrid and Roma have also seen a lot of each other in the competition, though not since 2008 when the Italians won 201 home and away in the last 16. “We are improving and gaining experience in the competition so we hope to do well”, Begiristain added.
Barcelona have won three Champions League titles in the interim, and have – in spite of some stiff competition – become the club of the era in these golden days of European football.
They (Kiev) have a good side and it will be hard for us.
Tottenham Hotspur will face Fiorentina, of Italy’s Serie A, for the second time in two seasons, while Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool’s German manager, returns to his homeland to face Augsburg.
Advertisement
Former Champions League winners Borussia Dortmund and Porto also lock horns while Olym-pique de Marseille take on Athletic Bilbao.
