The draw for the round of the last 16 of the UEFA Champions league was made this morning in Nyon, Switzerland at UEFA headquarters. The Daily Shift’s Jack Squibb reports on who’s set to take on who…
Today’s draw has lined up what’s sure to be some classic matches
The draw for the last 16 of football’s elite competition has pitted the heavyweight’s against each other ensuring the neutral supporters have something to look forward to during the winter break.
Taking part in today’s draw was former Real Madrid and Liverpool player, Steve Macmanaman who is the ambassador for Wembley stadium who are to host this year’s final again. The stadium hosted the final back in 2011 when Barcelona triumphed over Manchester United 3-1.
This year’s draw saw Celtic return to the knockout stages after a famous victory over Barcelona at Celtic Park, then sealing their place in the knockout stages when they defeated Spartak Moscow 2-1. Of course the shock of the group stages would be last year’s winners, Chelsea who slumped out of the competition becoming the first current holders to go out at the group stage. Meanwhile Arsenal and Manchester United once again progressed to the next round but not as easily as both sides hoped.
The draw for the last 16 is as follows:
Galatasary V FC Schalke, Celtic V Juventus, Arsenal V Bayern Munich, Shakhtar Donetsk V Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan V Barcelona, Real Madrid V Manchester United, Valencia V Paris St Germain, Porto V Malaga
Immediately standing out is Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid are to take on Manchester United, sending the star player back to Old Trafford for the first time since leaving the club. Neil Lennon’s Celtic have been handed a difficult fixture as they have to face Italian champions Juventus while Arsenal are paired up with last year’s runners up Bayern Munich. Six time winners of the competition, AC Milan will play the four time winners, Barcelona.
In an amazing coincidence, yesterday’s rehearsal draw saw the same teams drawn against each other. The first leg of the ties will take place on February 12/13 and 19/20 with the return legs happening on March 5/6 and 12/13.
Best last 16 draw in years.
This is one of the best draws ever made by UEFA•i love this becose its gonna be classical