NYON (Switzerland), Dec 12: Bayern Munich will meet Real Madrid for the fourth time in five seasons in the first knockout phase of the Champions League following Friday’s draw.
In other eye-catching matches, unbeaten German League leaders VfB Stuttgart will meet English League leaders Chelsea, Porto face Manchester United and reigning champions AC Milan play Sparta Prague.
The 16-team round is completed with Real Sociedad against Olympique Lyon, Celta Vigo v Arsenal, Deportivo Coruna v Juventus and Lokomotiv Moscow v AS Monaco.
The first legs will be played on Feb 24/25 with the returns on March 9/10. Real and Bayern have between them lifted the European Cup 13 times and on each of the last three occasions they have met in the competition the winner has gone on to lift the trophy.
Real won the last tie 3-2 on aggregate in the quarterfinals in 2002 but Bayern have won six of the eight games between the clubs since Feb 2000. In all they have met 14 times in Europe, with Bayern winning nine matches, Real four and one game drawn.
In 2000 Bayern won both games between the two in the second group stage but Real won their semi-final 3-2 on aggregate and went on to beat Valencia in final.
Bayern triumphed in the 2001 semis (aggregate 3-1) when they too then beat Valencia in the final, only for Real to hit back in the 2002 quarters ahead of wins over Barcelona in the semis and Bayer Leverkusen in the final.
The two sides didn’t meet last season — when AC Milan took the title.
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld said: “We will play against the best team in the world with all their top stars. It will be a great challenge.”
Manchester United were handed a tricky tie against Portuguese league leaders Porto, the winners of the UEFA Cup last season.
The leaders of the English Premier League and the Bundesliga will face off as Chelsea play VfB Stuttgart, who they beat 1-0 in the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1998.
Arsenal, the third English team to make the last 16 and desperate to make the quarter-finals after four failures in their last five attempts, will fancy their chances after being paired with Celta.
Draw:
FIRST LEGS
Tuesday, Feb 24
Sparta Prague v AC Milan
Celta Vigo v Arsenal
Lokomotiv Moscow v AS Monaco
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
Wednesday, Feb 25
Deportivo Coruna v Juventus
Porto v Manchester United
VfB Stuttgart v Chelsea
Real Sociedad v Olympique Lyon
SECOND LEGS
Tuesday, March 9
Juventus v Deportivo Coruna
Manchester United v Porto
Chelsea v VfB Stuttgart
Olympique Lyon v Real Sociedad
Wednesday, March 10
AC Milan v Sparta Prague
Arsenal v Celta Vigo
AS Monaco v Lokomotiv Moscow
Real Madrid v Bayern Munich.—Reuters