Bundesliga clubs form barrier for English trio
England will face germany in the last 16 of the Champions league — after three of the four Premier league sides were drawn against Bundesliga opponents.
liverpool take on Bayern Munich, Tottenham face Borussia dortmund and Manchester City play Schalke, with the two-legged ties to be played in February and March.
Manchester United’s season of turmoil took another turn for the worse when they were paired with French giants Paris Saint-germain.
The draw will see liverpool’s former Borussia dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp renew old rivalries with the Bavarian giants, who currently sit third in their domestic league.
Klopp acknowledged that Bayern represented difficult opponents but sounded confident when assessing his Premier league leaders’ chances. ‘It will be a tough one, an interesting one,’ he said. ‘I am looking forward to it.’
He has history with Bayern and is relishing facing a familiar foe.
‘We all know the stadium, the atmosphere will be great,’ he said. ‘It’s a nice trip for our supporters, it’s a wonderful city, so that’s all good. In the end, the boys have to decide it on the pitch.’
Klopp, who will also face his prolific former dortmund striker Robert lewandowski, added that whoever liverpool were drawn against would have been difficult.
‘It’s a tough one, but that’s how it should be,’ he said. ‘It’s the last 16 of the Champions league, so there are only tough teams.’ Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham, who squeaked into the knockout stage, will be seen as underdogs for their clash against a dominant dortmund side who are nine points clear at the top of the Bundesliga.
The london club were given a further blow when they were told they would be playing at home in the first week of fixtures rather than the second.
Spurs officials made it known to UEFa that, given the uncertainty over the opening of their new stadium, they would have preferred to have played the first leg on February 19 or 20 rather than the week before.
However, there was no option to make a formal request and the game will take place on February 13. no venue has been nominated, with Wembley likeliest should Spurs’ new home not be ready.
City, the only English team to top their group, were given what will be viewed as the easiest draw of all the Premier league clubs.
They will take on Schalke, who are a lowly 13th in the german top tier. City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain told Sportsmail that manager and former Bayern boss Pep guardiola would be wary of a german side. ‘german clubs run a lot, attack with a lot of players,’ he said. ‘It helps we are at home second.’ less than 24 hours after a surrender at liverpool left under-fire Jose Mourinho’s outfit 19 points off top spot and 11 points from the top four, United were handed two daunting dates with world football’s big-spenders in a tie not many will believe they can win.
United face a tough run of fixtures in February and March. as well as the two ties against PSg, they face Premier league home games against liverpool and Manchester City and a trip to arsenal in the space of just over a month.
United fans may be anxious at the prospect of their struggling defence facing the likes of Kylian Mbappe, neymar and ex-United player angel di Maria, but club ambassador denis Irwin, who was at the draw, put on a brave face.
He said: ‘If we play well for two nights, we’ll be in the quarterfinals. We are still a hard team to beat. We have a manager who knows how to win competitions.’