THE draw for the last-16 of the Champions League has concluded at the Uefa headquarters in Switzerland.
Premier League giants Arsenal will face a tough trip to former winners Porto while Manchester City will take on Copenhagen.
Jude Bellingham and Champions League kings Real Madrid will play German side RB Leipzig.
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Madrid blow
Real Madrid will likely be without David Alaba for their clash against Lazio.
Madrid confirmed Alaba had suffered a torn ACL in a statement.
It read: “Following tests carried out on our player David Alaba, he has been diagnosed with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
“He will undergo surgery in the coming days.”
Credit: Getty ‘Let’s go’
Thomas Muller has taken to social media following the Champions League draw.
He said: “Rome we are coming, let’s go FCB!”
Credit: Twitter Vieira homecoming
Fabio Vieira will face some familiar faces when Arsenal take on Porto.
The midfielder joined the Gunners from the Portuguese giants in 2022.
Credit: Getty
Inzaghi reacts to draw
Simone Inzaghi has reacted to seeing Inter Milan be drawn against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
He will come face to face with Diego Simeone who he used to be team-mates with at Lazio.
It will be a great round of 16 clash, with two top teams in two beautiful stadiums in front of packed houses.
We are happy because we continue to take part in big European games consistently.
Atletico have played two finals in the last ten years and have a great history in this competition, our club is no different and we want to try to dream again to give our fans further joy.
The Atletico boss is Diego Simeone, a great coach who I have an excellent relationship with. I won a lot with him, including a league title with Lazio.
Now it’s time to focus on the upcoming month, though: we have some big league matches as well as the Coppa Italia Italian Super Cup.
After that, we will start to think about preparing for these two big games: they will be two battles, we’ll have to work hard to be ready.
Simone Inzaghi
Deco on Barcelona draw
Deco has reacted to Barcelona’s round of 16 draw against Napoli.
He said: “There is still time to go but they are league champions, like we are, and I believe we will see two tough games.
“There is no luck in the Champions League.
“We are talking about Napoli, league champions, and they have quality players.
“In football talking about luck does not make sense.”
Bayern react to draw
Bayern Munich stars Manuel Neuer and Thomas Muller have reacted to the round of 16 draw against Lazio.
Neuer said: “It’s an Italian team, who are always set up well tactically. We’ve already got positive experiences against Lazio.
“We go into the games as favourites but can’t underestimate them. I have very positive memories of the stadium.
“The fans in Italy are always very loud. Everyone’s looking forward to the matches. We’ll try to win both games.”
Muller added: “I’m excited about the draw. It’s an exciting city. Lazio as a club are always interesting.
“When you’re through to the round of 16, you’ve done a good job. It’s an old, famous stadium that’s seen so many battles in the past.
“We’re focusing on the job. It’s a nice one to face.”
Credit: Getty Terry backing Madrid
John Terry has backed Real Madrid to win the Champions League title.
Following the draw, he said: “I think team-wise you have to look at Real Madrid.
“For me, I think they have been fantastic, probably for the last seven or eight years in the competition and are always there.
“I think Bellingham has been incredible as an individual and they obviously have a fantastic manager in Carlo who I worked alongside for many years at Chelsea.
“He’s a great man manager, so the players love him, great tactically and I think they will go a long way.”
Credit: AP Recap of the draw
Here is the draw in full…
Porto v Arsenal
Napoli v Barcelona
PSG v Real Sociedad
Inter Milan v Atletico Madrid
PSV v Borussia Dortmund
Lazio v Bayern Munich
Copenhagen v Man City
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
More from Edu
Edu has also insisted that Arsenal need to “maintain” the performances in order to progress in the competition.
He added: “The most important thing for us is to maintain our performances and the way we are playing.
“That’s our focus, that’s where we want to be and want to keep growing, so let’s see how far we can go in the competition.
“We want to try and go as far as possible, but we are very much concentrating on playing well, performing well and playing the best football we can, and then we’ll see how far we go.”
More from Begiristain
Txiki Begiristain has also insisted that Man City “know” how to win the Champions League.
He added: “We know what it takes now to win this Champions League and we want to do it again,”
“We finished top of the group, and we have played well in Europe.
“Once we are in the knockout rounds, we have to understand why we are. The respect for all the contenders is huge.
“But, of course, all the opponents will be difficult and the first one we have to work on is Copenhagen.”
Credit: PA:Press Association City need to be ‘careful’
Director of football Txiki Begiristain has also reacted to Manchester City’s round of 16 draw against Copenhagen.
He said: “In the group phase they played against Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Manchester United and they went through. They were the second-best team in the group so it means a lot.
“They have been better than Manchester United and Galatasaray, two clubs with a much more experience in the Champions League than them. So we have to be careful.
“We have to take it seriously and respect what they have done. They have something very good.
“We have already played Copenhagen (in the Champions League last season) so we go back to Copenhagen which is a wonderful place to visit.
“They played very well at home but what happened two years ago means nothing.”
Europa Conference League draw
- Sturm Graz vs Slovan Bratislava
- Servette vs Ludogorets
- Union Saint-Gilloise vs Eintracht Frankfurt
- Real Betis vs Dinamo Zagreb
- Olympiacos vs Ferencvaros
- Ajax vs Bodo/Glimt
- Molde vs Legia Warsaw
- Maccabi Haifa vs Gent
Aston Villa will head straight into the round of 16.
Edu reacts to draw
Edu has reacted to Arsenal’s draw against Porto in the Champions League round of 16.
Speaking after the draw, he said: “We are going to play against a club that is very used to playing in the competition because they play in it every single year and they have a lot of players as well with big experience.
“We have to understand how are we going to play and respect them as much as we can. We will play our game and see if we can go through this stage.
“We can see how they are playing, how organized they are, and the players that they have. Porto is a club that you have to be really prepared to play against or we’ll have problems, so what we have to concentrate on is maintaining our levels and the way we are playing.”
Credit: Sunday Times Champions League top scorers
Despite not making it past the group stages, Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojund is among the Champions League top scorers.
The Danish striker netted five times in the groups, equal to Alvaro Morata, Antoine Griezmann and Erling Haaland.
Who will finish the campaign with the most goals?
Supercomputer prediction
A supercomputer has predicted Arsenal to win the Champions League.
The Gunners returned to the competition this season for the first time since 2016/17.
But it is like Mikel Arteta’s side have never been away as they picked up four wins from their six group matches.
They even qualified with a game to spare after thrashing Ligue Un side Lens last month.
Now a supercomputer devised by OLBG has predicted the Gunners to win the Champions League after compiling data from all group stage results ahead of the round of 16.
Top assister
Bukayo Saka has impressed in his debut campaign of the Champions League.
The Arsenal star has assisted the most amount of goals [4] in the competition.
Will he impress in the knockout stages?
Jesus’ Champions League dream
Gabriel Jesus has previously admitted that he wants to win the Champions League with Kai Havertz, having lost out on the cup to the German in 2021.
He said: ”A lot, we are always joking that he [Havertz] won the Champions League against me and I always say I want to win one with him!”
”We always joke [about it], but now I want to win with him and Jorginho as well. He is an amazing player and the way he plays he is so strong and tall, with his quality as well he helps us a lot.
‘Quietly like me, he is always fighting and helping the team and the way this guy has arrived is massive. We are very happy we have him.”
Europa League preliminary round draw
Here is the complete draw for the Europa League preliminary round.
- Shakhtar v Marseille
- Galatasaray v Sparta Prague
- Braga v Qarabag
- Benfica v Toulouse
- Young Boys v Sporting Lisbon
- Lens v Freiburg
- Milan v Rennes
- Feyenoord v Roma
The winners could face the likes of Liverpool, West Ham and Brighton in the following round.
When will the draw be confirmed?
Uefa have confirmed that the exact date and times of the round of 16 matches will be announced this evening.
Credit: Reuters Full story of the draw
Check out SunSports’ full story on the Champions League draw.
Vieira homecoming
Fabio Vieira will face some familiar faces when Arsenal take on Porto.
The midfielder joined the Gunners from the Portuguese giants in 2022.
Credit: Getty
More fan reaction
Football fans have been left fuming after the Champions League draw for the Last 16 was picked this morning.
Supporters suggested that the random draw was “rigged” after Manchester City were picked against the “easiest” team in the pot and Arsenal were handed a tough tie.
The Cityzens were drawn against Copenhagen, while Arsenal will face Porto who won the competition back in 2004.
Copenhagen are ranked as the 37th best team in Europe according to Uefa’s own club coefficient.
While Manchester City are considered the best team in Europe off the back of their Champions League success last season.
Man City record vs Copenhagen
Manchester City face Copenhagen in the Champions League round of 16.
City beat the Danish side once in the group stages last season 5-0, drawing the other game 0-0.
City also beat Copenhagen in the Uefa Cup 4-3 on aggregate back in 2009.
Credit: Rex More on Porto’s CL history
The Portuguese giants have won the Champions League twice in the club’s history.
Porto first won the tournament in 1987 and again in 2004.
The second victory was when the club was managed by Jose Mourinho.
Credit: Getty Arsenal fans react to draw
Arsenal fans have been reacting to their Champions League draw against Porto on social media
One fan posted: “One of those teams that are exceptionally fiddly to eliminate but you’d make Arsenal strong favourites.”
A second wrote: “Lol we are winning this comfortably at home.”
Another added: “They’ve got some decent players. Good keeper. Won’t be easy.”
Credit: AP
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
