Man City faces Barcelona in Champions round of 16

LONDON: Manchester City's fear of drawing one of Europe's big guns in the Champions League round of 16 was realized on Monday when they were handed a daunting tie with four-times winners Barcelona.
Holders Bayern Munich will play Arsenal at the same stage for the second successive season while Chelsea hero Didier Drogba will make an emotional return to west London with current side Galatasaray following Monday's draw.
Nine-times winner Real Madrid take on Schalke 04 and last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund will play Zenit St Petersburg, who scraped through with six points after winning only one of their six group games.
French champions Paris St Germain will play Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid were paired with AC Milan.
"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.
Despite the tough draw, City will take confidence from their strong home form which has seen them score a remarkable 35 goals in eight home league matches this season, and their win over Bayern earlier this month, although it was not enough to finish top of their group.
"Barca is a champion side who are playing with confidence and they have that champion's mentality which is going to make it tough for us," Begiristain added.
"But we are playing well and creating a lot of scoring chances and that gives us a lot of confidence."
Barcelona share top spot in La Liga with Atletico Madrid, and will hope to have striker Lionel Messi back from a thigh strain in time for the first leg in February.
"It's a tie of exceptional quality to get the competition going again in February," Barcelona sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta told Spanish television broadcaster Canal Plus.
"They are two teams that attack very well and have a huge amount of talent right from the goalkeepers through to the forward line.
"It seems like it will be a match with everything and it is going to be a tough fight."
Bayern defeated Arsenal on away goals in last season's round of 16 on their way to their fifth title.
The German champions won the first game at the Emirates Stadium 3-1 but lost 2-0 at home, and their chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was not looking forward to a rematch with the Premier League leaders.
"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."
Chelsea have an intriguing tie against Galatasaray and former Stamford Bridge favorite Drogba.
The Ivorian ended his Chelsea career on a high after scoring the deciding penalty in the shootout success over Bayern in the 2012 final, and the London side's manager Jose Mourinho spoke recently of his hope that the two teams would meet.
Three-times winners Manchester United will play Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus, while Atletico will fancy their chances against struggling AC Milan, who currently sit 12th in Serie A, 25 points behind leaders Juventus and 17 points off the last Champions League qualification spot.

Spurs to face old boss Ramos in Europa League last 32
Meantime, managerless Tottenham Hotspur face a long trip to Ukraine for a meeting with former boss Juande Ramos after being drawn against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the last 32 of the Europa League.
Ramos was in charge of the north Londoners, who sacked Andre Villas-Boas on Monday following a 5-0 thrashing by Liverpool the previous day, for less than a year but did help them win the 2008 League Cup, the club's last trophy.
Spurs or Dnipro will take on PAOK Salonika of Greece or last year's runners-up Benfica, who drop down from the Champions League, in the last 16.
Former UEFA Cup winners Valencia are to play Dynamo Kiev while Juventus, who surprisingly failed to make the Champions League last 16, could meet fellow Serie A side Fiorentina should they beat Turkish side Trabzonspor in the round of 32.
Napoli, who also failed to progress in the Champions League, will play Swansea City in the last 32.