Arsenal and Chelsea get worst of draw
Arsenal and Chelsea must overcome the league leaders of Spain and France respectively after being handed daunting ties against Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16.
While Manchester City, who secured a place among the top seeds in yesterday’s draw by topping Group D ahead of Italian champions Juventus, have been given a favourable two-legged tie against Dynamo Kiev, London’s prospects of extended participation in the competition suffered a considerable dent, with Arsenal and Chelsea handed the most difficult draws possible.
Chelsea will travel to the Parc des Princes for the first leg on 16 February aiming to avenge last season’s elimination on away goals at the hands of Laurent Blanc’s team at the same stage of the competition.
That tie, in which PSG progressed at Stamford Bridge despite playing for more than an hour without the redcarded Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was marred by footage of Chelsea supporters singing racist chants on the Paris Métro and refusing to allow a black man on to a train.
It will be the third successive season the two clubs have met, with Chelsea emerging victors on away goals in the 2013-14 quarter-finals.
Nasser al-Khelaifi, the PSG president, hailed the tie as a “classic” following the draw in Nyon, Switzerland.
“We must be able to win against all the teams and to go as far as possible in this competition,” Khelaifi said. “This [Chelsea] is a great team that has already won the Champions League and we have a lot of respect for them.
“We play Chelsea for the third year and it’s become something of a classic for us. I am delighted for the fans, who will see great matches at Parc des Princes and Stamford Bridge. We’ll be ready.”
Arsenal’s pairing with Barcelona will prompt memories of defeat in the 2006 final, 2009-10 quarter-finals and 2010-11 last 16 against the reigning European champions.
Barcelona, currently in Japan to contest the Fifa Club World Cup, will go into the tie as overwhelming favourites, but there remains some optimism within the Emirates that Arsène Wenger’s team can end their miserable run against the Catalans.
“On the back of the great win in Athens [against Olympiakos], we were hoping for a good draw and I think it’s the tie of the round,” said Arsenal secretary David Miles. “It’s not going to be easy and it’s the team that most Arsenal fans would have wanted to avoid at this stage, but it’s up to us to make a good fist of it.
“We’ve got our own worldclass players and certainly we’ll go in for this. It should be two fantastic games.”
Meanwhile, City’s first leg of their tie against Dynamo will be behind closed doors in Kiev on 24 February as a result of a Uefa sanction for the racist abuse of Chelsea supporters earlier this season.
Dave Wallace, of the City fanzine King of the Kippax, described the situation as “far- cical”. City played at CSKA Moscow in similar circumstances last year and Wallace said: “CSKA fans got in and ours weren’t allowed. This is why we boo the Champions League anthem, not because of financial fair play
“The ground won’t be empty – there’ll be a few hundred Kiev fans allowed in, but no City fans.”