European champions Real Madrid will face Schalke 04, Barcelona will play Manchester City and Chelsea will take on Paris St Germain in three ties repeated from last season following the draw for the Champions League last 16 made yesterday.
Real Madrid knocked Schalke out of the last 16 last season 9-2 on aggregate, Barcelona beat Manchester City 4-1 while Chelsea saw off PSG on away goals in the quarter-finals.
Last week, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said he would welcome being drawn against PSG “because it will be easy for our fans to travel to Paris” – and he got his wish when Karl-Heinz Riedle drew the pair together.
Riedle, who performed the draw in his role as ambassador for Berlin, the venue for this season’s final on June 6 and who scored twice when his Borussia Dortmund team beat Juventus 3-1 in the 1997 final, also drew those two clubs together.
Last season’s beaten finalists Atletico Madrid face Bayer Leverkusen in another Spain-Germany match-up.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will face his old club Monaco in a competitive match for the first time while five-time winners Bayern Munich take on Shakhtar Donetsk.
Swiss club FC Basel play Porto.
Real Madrid crushed Schalke in last season’s Round of 16 and club director Emilio Butragueno told Spanish TV broadcaster Canal Plus: “Let’s say that we are rather optimistic.
“We have the experience from last season, a very, very good experience when we essentially won the tie in the first leg.”
Real beat Schalke 6-1 in the first leg and 3-1 in the second leg last season en route to their 10th European Cup success.
After drawing English champions Manchester City, Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta told Canal Plus: “It’s a great tie against a great rival, a team we know extremely well.
“There is still a long way to go until February and let’s see what shape each team is in when the tie comes around, but for sure it’s going to be a great tie with two great matches.”
Manchester City director of football and former Barcelona player Txiki Begiristain said: “Every tie in that draw is the same, it’s fantastic, so we’re looking forward to it.
“We have improved our squad from last season and we have some real quality up front this time.”
The draws in Nyon
Champions League – Last 16
February 17 and March 11
Paris St Germain (France) vs Chelsea (England)
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) vs Bayern Munich (Germany)
February 18 and March 10
Schalke 04 (Germany) vs Real Madrid (Spain)
FC Basle (Switzerland) vs Porto (Portugal)
February 24 and March 18
Manchester City (England) vs Barcelona (Spain)
Juventus (Italy) vs Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
February 25 and March 17
Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) vs Atletico Madrid (Spain)
Arsenal (England) vs Monaco (France)
Europa League – Round of 32
Young Boys (Switzerland) vs Everton (England)
Torino (Italy) vs Athletic Bilbao (Spain)
Sevilla (Spain) vs Borusssia Moenchengladbach (Germany)
Wolfsburg (Germany) vs Sporting Lisbon (Portugal)
Ajax Amsterdam (Netherlands) vs Legia Warsaw (Poland)
AaB Aalborg (Denmark) vs Club Bruges (Belgium)
Anderlecht (Belgium) vs Dinamo Moscow (Russia)
Dnipro (Ukraine) vs Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece)
Trabzonspor (Turkey) vs Napoli (Italy)
Guingamp (France) vs Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Villarreal (Spain) vs Salzburg (Austria)
Roma (Italy) vs Feyenoord (Netherlands)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) vs Zenit SP (Russia)
Liverpool (England) vs Besiktas (Turkey)
Tottenham (England) vs Fiorentina (Italy)
Celtic (Scotland) vs Inter (Italy)
First legs: February 19. Second legs: February 26.