By Mark Finlay
Manchester City has for the second year in-a-row been drawn against Barcelona, while Chelsea will take on Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal face their dream team choice of Monaco.
Last season’s winners Real Madrid face Bundesliga side Schalke, and beaten finalists Atletico Madrid take on Bayer Leverkusen.
German champions Bayern Munich will face Shakhtar Donetsk, while Italian Champions Juventus play Borussia Dortmund leaving Porto up against Basel.
When speaking after the draw Manchester City’s director of football and former Barcelona man Txiki Begiristain told Sky Sports News: “Every tie in that draw is the same. It’s fantastic, so we’re looking forward to it.
“We have plenty of confidence with the way we qualified beating Bayern Munich at home and Roma away, so the players will be working hard to get fit and arrive in confidence for those games.
“We have improved our squad from last season and we have some real quality up front.”
Meanwhile Arsenal club secretary David Miles said: “As the draw progressed, a lot of big teams were gone. We are just delighted to be here.
“We are very much looking forward to the games. We’ve picked some of the biggest teams in Europe over the last few years but we are not taking anything for granted. Monaco have earned the right to be at this stage.
“The fans have got high expectations and it would be great to get through the last 16 and kick on from there.”
When asked about the Blues chances Chelsea Secretary David Barnard said: “PSG are known to us as we played them in the quarters last year and they’ve got David Luiz playing for them too.
“It’s a good draw logistically too for our supporters. Both sides have very different squads from last year, so if it was PSG or anyone else, it would’ve been the same situation.”
Champions League last 16 ties:
Paris St-Germain v Chelsea
Manchester City v Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid
Juventus v Borussia Dortmund
Schalke v Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich
Arsenal v Monaco
Basel v FC Porto
