A Real toughie
Ronaldo vs Neymar the talk of last-16 draw, Chelsea await Barcelona
Holders Real Madrid were drawn against Paris St Germain in the standout tie from the Champions League last-16 draw and Barcelona will take on Chelsea. Real, bidding for a 13th title and third in a row, finished runners-up in their group and paid the price with an extremely tough draw against the big-spending Parisian club. Last season’s runners-up Juventus will meet Tottenham Hotspur, one of five English clubs in the draw. Manchester City, who have never won Europe’s biggest club prize, will face Swiss club Basel. Five-time winners Bayern Munich were drawn with Turkish outsiders Besiktas, Manchester United take on Sevilla and Liverpool will meet Porto. The first legs take place on Feb 13-14 and Feb 20-21 with the returns on March 6-7 and March 13-14.
NYON (Switzerland): Real Madrid vs Paris St Germain. Cristiano Ronaldo vs Neymar. Historic achievement vs burning ambition.
Two-time defending Champions League winner Real Madrid were drawn to play the tournament’s standout team in the last 16, made possible because the 12-time champions finished second in their group while PSG won their group.
“They (PSG) are really very strong in every department of the field,” Real director Emilio Butragueno said.
“But I have to underline, we are the holders and our players, they always rise to the occasion.” PSG bought Neymar from
€ Barcelona for a record 222mil (RM1bil) fee in the off-season.
The Brazil striker scored in five straight wins as the team finished ahead of Bayern Munich in their group.
Ronaldo scored in all six of Real’s matches.
Barcelona, who lead the Spanish
League despite the loss of Neymar, were drawn to face Chelsea in a meeting of recent champions. The English club are one of the few opponents Lionel Messi has failed to score against.
With eight former winners in the line-up, another clash of European champions pits Liverpool against Porto.
Also, it was: Basel vs Manchester City; Sevilla vs Manchester United; Juventus vs Tottenham; Bayern
Munich vs Besiktas; and Shakhtar Donetsk vs AS Roma.
The first legs will be played from Feb 13-21, with the return matches from March 6-14.
The final will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev, Ukraine, on May 26.
Real and PSG met in the group stage two seasons ago when the French team’s leader was Zlatan Ibrahimovic. They drew 0-0 in Paris and Real won 1-0 at home.
“Since then they have strengthened.
They have signed very, very good players,” said Butragueno, whose club lost out to PSG in their pursuit of France forward Kylian Mbappe.
Barcelona and Chelsea will renew a rivalry that has included intense semi-finals in 2009 and 2012. Each took a turn to advance at the other team’s expense and went on to win the title. — AP