Manchester City’s reward for reaching the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time is a meeting with Barcelona, while holders Bayern Munich face Arsenal for the second year in a row following Monday’s last 16 draw.
City’s tally of 15 points is the most ever for a group-runner up but manager Manuel Pellegrini’s failure to realise that one more goal in their 3-2 win over Bayern would have given them top spot now looks even more damaging after they were drawn with four-times winners Barcelona.
“Very tough, we are happy because we are here and we will fight for the trophy, but it’s true that it could be maybe better,” City director of football Txiki Begiristain, who held the same position at Barcelona and spent seven years as a player at the Spanish club, told Sky Sports.
Bayern defeated Arsenal on away goals in last season’s round of 16, and their chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was not looking forward to a rematch with the Premier League pace-setters.
“They are the leaders in the Premier League and so we have been warned,” he said.
“A few months ago we lost to them in Munich. They are a very tough team.”
Last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund will play Zenit St Petersburg, who scraped through with six pints after winning only one of their six group games while three-times champions Manchester United were paired with Olympiakos Piraeus.
Real Madrid, seeking a 10th title, play Germany’s Schalke, while high-flying Atletico Madrid take on AC Milan.
The other ties, to be played in February, feature Bayer Leverkusen v Paris St Germain and Galatasaray v Chelsea, where the Turkish club’s Didier Drogba will come face to face with his former employers whom he helped to the 2012 title.
The Ivorian left Chelsea after that victory, having scored the deciding penalty in the shoot-out success over Bayern, and the London side’s current manager Jose Mourinho spoke recently of his hope that the two teams would meet.
The final is at Lisbon’s Stadium of Light on May 24.