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Champions League Draw

December 16, 2011 by · Comments Off on Champions League Draw 

Champions League Draw, England’s two surviving representatives in the Champions League, Chelsea and Arsenal, were handed tough ties against Italian opposition in Friday’s draw for the last 16, while holders Barcelona will come up against Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen.

Chelsea will take on Napoli, while Arsenal will meet reigning Serie A champions AC Milan, with both Premier League clubs travelling to Italy first.

Chelsea have never previously faced Napoli, but they will know not to take Walter Mazzarri’s side lightly after they qualified for the last 16 at the expense of Manchester City.

The 2008 beaten finalists have also only ever won once in Italy in seven attempts.

“I think that at this stage we can come up with the cliches about it being difficult, and it will be difficult because we’ve seen that Napoli were in the same group as Manchester City, so that reflects on the quality of Napoli,” Chelsea secretary David Barnard said.

For Arsenal, meanwhile, the clash with Milan is a repeat of their meeting at the same stage in 2007-08.

On that occasion the Gunners won 2-0 on aggregate, with Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor scoring late goals in the second-leg at the San Siro after a goalless first-leg.

“It’s going to be a fantastic two games,” Arsenal club secretary David Miles told Sky Sports after the draw, before admitting: “If I’m being honest there are probably some other teams we may have preferred.”

Nevertheless, Milan have also been eliminated by English clubs in the round of 16 in each of the last two campaigns, losing to Tottenham last season, and to Manchester United in 2010.

Barcelona will go to Germany first to face the 2002 runners-up Leverkusen, who qualified from Group E behind Chelsea.

There is history between the clubs, as Leverkusen beat Barca in the 1987-88 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, on their way to winning their only European trophy to date.

However, the Catalans will fancy their chances of gaining

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