Arsenal to face Barca in CL last 16

In the 2006 final, the Catalan club won 2-1 thanks to a late Juliano Belletti goal, and in 2010 Arsenal lost 6-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals.

Also, five-time champion Bayern Munich will play away first against 2015 runner-up Juventus, while record 10-time champion Real Madrid will face AS Roma.

Manchester City, which has had its own bad luck with Champions League group stage draws, caught a break in drawing Dynamo Kiev, the runner-up to Chelsea in Group G.

Defending champion Barcelona will face Arsenal in the last 16 of the Champions League after Monday’s draw in Nyon. “We know the Chelsea players well and we know they will give everything to get past the last-16 – but so will we”.

Barcelona director of sporting institutional relations Albert Soler said he was looking forward to “a very attractive game”.

“It is an attractive tie, Arsenal are a good team with magnificent players and they play really good football”.

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.

Former Champions League victor Borussia Dortmund and Porto also meet while exciting ties feature Olympique de Marseille against Athletic Bilbao, Anderlecht vs. Olympiakos Piraeus, Shakhtar Donetsk against Schalke 04 and Lazio vs. Galatasaray. Last year PSG eliminated Chelsea at the same stage of the competition and the year before went on eliminating the French in the Quaterfinals.

Dutch team PSV Eindhoven plays 2014 finalist Atletico Madrid and Benfica tackles Zenit St. Petersburg.

Struggling Manchester United are due to play Danish champions FC Midtjylland in the same competition, while Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp faces a return to Germany when the Reds play Augsburg. “If we see ourselves as favourites things won’t go well for us”, said Real director Emilio Butragueno.

“They will be two great games”.

Though the Gunners’ style of play is admired by Enrique’s side, they feel it suits their style of play and those within the Camp Nou feel they’ve been handed a good draw.

Blanc was speaking before PSG begin their defence of the French League Cup with a last 16 tie at home to Saint-Etienne on Wednesday. PSG came out as the victors last time round and, with the current form of the Premier League champions, it seems a really hard fixture for them. Both are competition debutants, meaning there will be a new quarterfinalist in the Uefa Champions League this season.

First legs on Feb 16-17 and Feb 23-24.

Last year, PSG travelled to Stamford Bridge after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Paris and found themselves up against it when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was red carded after only 30 minutes.