Europe heralds its own star wars
● Nouveau riche PSG face football’s aristocrats Real in tie of the round
Real Madrid versus Paris Saint-germain. Cristiano Ronaldo versus Neymar. Historic achievement versus burning ambition.
Two-time defending Champions League winners Madrid were drawn yesterday to face the tournament’s standout team in the last 16, made possible because the 12-time champions finished second in their group while PSG topped theirs.
“PSG are really very strong in every department of the field,” Madrid 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 €222 million (£196m) fee in the summer with the specific aim of winning a first European title. Madrid had won six European Cups before PSG were even formed in 1970.
“As I always say, we must be ready to play any team and we will be ready,” PSG president Nasser al-khelaifi said.
Neymar scored in five straight wins as PSG finished ahead of Bayern Munich and Celtic in Group B, scoring three times against the Scottish champions who lost 5-0 and 7-1 to the Paris mult-millionaires. PSG finished the group with 25 goals, a competition record.
Not to be outdone, Ronaldo scored in all six of Madrid’s matches to set another Champions League record.
Barcelona, who lead the Spanish league unbeaten despite the loss of Neymar,
0 Ronaldo and Neymar were both in goalscoring form during the group stages of this season’s Champions League. 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.
Madrid 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 Madrid 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 stadium and go on to win the title.
Tottenham’s reward for taking four points from Madrid and topping the group is a pairing with Italian champion Juventus, the Champions League runners-up in two of the past three seasons.
Shakhtar will host Roma in their adopted home city of Kharkiv. Shakhtar’s stadium in Donetsk has been ruled unsafe for games since conflict flared in 2014 between government forces and prorussian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
“It’s very, very difficult,” said Shakhtar CEO Sergiy Palkin, whose team edged Napoli to advance. “It’s a very, very big effort for our club.”