Arsenal fans react to drawing Barcelona in the Champions League

‘This is the draw we wanted, ‘ a Barcelona insider told the Mirror.

First legs are scheduled to take place on 16-17 and 23-24 February.

The Catalan giants have an impressive record against the Gunners, losing only one of the seven previous encounters between the sides, while they beat the north Londoners 2-1 to win the 2006 final.

But it is the game between the pacesetters in Spain and Arsenal which most catches the eye, however.

Chelsea and Paris have met in each of the last two seasons, Chelsea winning their 2013/14 quarterfinal and Paris edging last season’s round of 16 tie on away goals.

Arsenal have only beaten Barcelona once in their history, a 2-1 win at the Emirates in 2011 that saw a 19-year-old Jack Wilshere take centre stage as he put in a stunning performance.

If the Gunners hit form and catch Barca on their off-day, they may be able to spring a surprise.

Can Arsenal beat Barcelona in the Champions League? Roma are a tough side who compete well. This will be the third successive season they have been paired.

“Even though Chelsea are going through a challenging time, they’re still a great side with a great manager”.

But Manchester City finally got lucky.

Manchester United will play Danish champions FC Midtjylland after dropping into the Europa League.

Juventus, who relinquished pole position following their loss to Sevilla, have paid the price.

Chelsea Club Secretary and board member David Barnard was one of our representatives at the draw; he thinks last year’s elimination by 10-man PSG will provide extra motivation.

“We’ve got our own world class players and we’ll go in for this”.

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

With Alba and Alves committed to attack, it allowed Depor more space to run into on the break and they picked off their hosts with smart, efficient play in the transitions, creating few chances but chances of good quality.

“We’re all unanimous in saying that there are only good teams left – we all know that”.

“We were in a very complicated group and we did very well to come through it without too much difficulty”.

“We know what can happen if you have 10 poor minutes on a European night”, he added.

If we were to flip things round and say, hypothetically, that they managed to pull off a miraculous victory over Luis Enrique’s side, could there be a better boost of confidence for the squad?

That might just give Arsenal the edge they need in what looks like being a very open race for top spot.

“Everyone has weak points”.

He insisted: “They’re a complicated and hard challenge, a magnificent adversary”. We are getting experience which is important.