December 16 – Big-spending Manchester City’s reward for reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time is a mouth-watering clash with four-time winners Barcelona, while holders Bayern Munich face Arsenal for the second year in a row in the other big tie of the last 16 following today’s draw.
The importance of topping the respective groups was there for all to see in virtually every last-16 matchup. Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund have a great chance of further progress against Zenit St Petersburg while Manchester United, despite not being the force they used to be under Sir Alex Ferguson, were given a relatively easy passage on paper against rank outsiders Olympiakos Piraeus.
Real Madrid, seeking a 10th title but a first since 2002, were drawn to play Germany’s Schalke 04 while high-flying Atletico Madrid take on AC Milan, the only Italian side left in the competition.
The other ties, all to be played in February, feature Bayer Leverkusen up against Paris St Germain while Chelsea take on Galatarasary, who upset Juventus in that nail-biting climax to the group phase, staged over two days because of snow.
Intriguingly Galatasaray’s veteran striker Didier Drogba will come face to face with his former club whom he famously helped win the trophy in 2012 with the final penalty of that dramatic shootout.
“It’s very tough, but we are happy because we are here and we will fight for the trophy,” said Manchester City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain whose club might actually favour having the first leg at home, given their formidable record at the Etihad stadium, to try and take a lead to Catalonia.
“It’s a wonderful draw and these are two big teams so it’s going to be great, great matches. The game we played in Munich, winning against the champions of Europe [Bayern Munich] and that has given us a lot of confidence. We have shown we can score in all matches.”
Arsenal secretary David Miles rued getting “another rough end of the draw. But we ran Bayern very close last time and are hopeful we can turn the tide and actually come through this time. I’d have much rather been in the other half of the draw but we are where we are. For me this is the standout tie of the round. We are both at the top of our respective leagues.”
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