Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea were drawn on Monday against Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City tackle Barcelona in two blockbuster Champions League last 16 ties.
Chelsea’s ‘reward’
for sailing into the knockout stages unbeaten was a testing match-up against
the Qatari-backed French champions who they beat on away goals in last season’s
quarter-finals.
Chelsea secretary
David Barnard told Sky Sports News: “PSG are known to us as we played them in
the quarters last year and they’ve got David Luiz playing for them too.
“It’s a good draw
logistically too for our supporters.
“Both sides have very
different squads from last year, so if it was PSG or anyone else, it would’ve
been the same situation.”
Like PSG, English
champions City will be out for revenge after being brushed aside 4-1 on
aggregate by Barca at this stage in the last Champions League campaign.
City’s director of
football, former Barcelona player Txiki Begiristain, said: “We have plenty of
confidence with the way we qualified beating Bayern Munich at home and Roma
away, so the players will be working hard to get fit and arrive in confidence
for those games.
“We have improved our
squad from last season and we have some real quality up front.”
Barcelona
representative Andoni Zubizarreta said: “It is the same draw we had a year ago,
it was a very difficult game and we are going to look forward to it.
“Manchester City have
an outstanding squad with a very good coach, a very good team and are very
competitive.”
The last 16 draw
staged at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, gave holders Real Madrid a
palatable pairing against German side Schalke 04, coached by Roberto Di Matteo,
who was in charge of Chelsea when they were crowned kings of Europe.
Real met Schalke in
last season’s last 16, easing through 9-2 on aggregate, en route to their tenth
title.
“The balls come out
as they come out, of course, we are the outsiders, but there is always the old
football saying; “form beats class”,” said Schalke board member Peter Peters
optimistically
Last year’s beaten
finalists Atletico Madrid come up against Bayer Leverkusen.
Arsenal, finalists in
2006, face their coach Arsene Wenger’s old club Monaco, Italian champions
Juventus will have to overcome Borussia Dortmund, and German giants Bayern
Munich, who beat Borussia in the 2013 final, play Shakhtar Donetsk.
“Our goal is to reach
the next round, but in Adriano, they (Shakhtar) have the best goal scorer in
the group stages.
“You can’t
underestimate this team in any case,” said Bayern’s marketing director Andreas
Jung.
Arsenal are appearing
in the knockout stages for the 17th successive season, and club secretary David
Miles reflected on their favourable draw.
“As the draw came
out, it was evident a lot of the big teams had gone, so we’re pleased to have
avoided them.
“We’re certainly not
taking anything for granted though against Monaco. It’s the first time we’ve
played them in a competitive match, so Arsene Wenger will be delighted to go
back to one of his former clubs.”
Swiss outfit Basel’s
reward for knocking out Liverpool at the group stage was a match-up with
two-time winners Porto.
The last 16 first leg
games are scheduled for 17/18 and 24/25 February, with the second legs on 10/11
and 17/18 March.
The final for
Europe’s elite club competition will take place in Berlin’s Olympic stadium on
June 6.
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