Silva: Chelsea in UCL harder than previous year

It’s the tie between Barcelona and Arsenal which most catches the eye, however. Arsenal have not made it past the round of 16 for the previous five years, with elimination at the hands of Barcelona, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, twice, and Monaco during that period.

Their dreams proved to be short-lived.

Arsenal secretary David Miles was quick to admit that the draw was not what Arsenal fans had hoped for.

Their Barclays Premier League rivals Chelsea were also handed a hard assignment as they were paired with Paris St Germain for the third year in succession.

Also, Manchester United’s next match in Europe will be at Danish club Midtjylland, while two-time defending champion Sevilla hosts Molde.

Barcelona travel to Emirates Stadium for the first leg on 23 February with the second leg at the Nou Camp on 16 March.

The draw also saw record 10-time winners Real Madrid matched up against Roma, while Manchester City will meet Ukrainians Dynamo Kiev for a place in the quarterfinals.

“It is not easy and the one to avoid at this stage, but it is up to us and we will give them a game”, Arsenal club secretary David Miles said.

Fernandez knows the tie in London is crucial to Barcelona’s chances of progressing, adding in quotes reported by www.fcbarcelona.com and El Mundo Deportivo: “We have to be very good in the first game”. With the likes of Ozil, Sanchez and Giroud in form, they could well harm Barcelona in greater ways than expected. “Last year, I would have taken it all day long because Chelsea were playing wonderfully well but this year I didn’t want that at all”, he continued.

Spurs will be looking to make amends against Fiorentina, after the Italian team ended their Europa League challenge last season with a 2-0 win at White Hart Lane that sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory.

“This is the draw we wanted”, they said.

City will be pleased to have avoided the risky PSG as they bid to reach the quarter-finals for the first time but their fans may be frustrated about the Kiev situation. “Now they are back to top form after a hard start to the season”.

“We were in a very complicated group and we did very well to come through it without too much difficulty. If we see ourselves as favourites, things won’t go well for us”, said Real director Emilio Butragueno.

“Yeah, I mean Barcelona are full of great players”.

“We know what can happen if you have ten poor minutes on a European night”.