Manchester City get Copenhagen, Barcelona to face Napoli in Champions League last 16

NYON – Holders Manchester City said they would be “careful” of minnows Copenhagen after their performances against local rivals Manchester United as the draw for the Champions League last 16 in Nyon on Dec 18 threw up few standout encounters.

Copenhagen, who beat 10-man Red Devils at home in the group stage, will travel to Manchester to face Pep Guardiola’s side in the knockout stage.

The Danish team will have their work cut out against the champions, who won all six of their group-stage matches and are on an unbeaten run of 20 games in European football.

“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,” said City’s director of football Txiki Begiristain.

“They have been better than Manchester United and Galatasaray, two clubs with much more experience in the Champions League than them. So we have to be careful.”

Another mouth-watering clash involves Serie A champions Napoli and Spanish La Liga holders Barcelona.

The two teams last faced each other in the Europa League knockout stage in 2022, with Barcelona winning 5-3 on aggregate.

“There is still time to go but they are league champions, like we are, and I believe we will see two tough games,” Barcelona’s sporting director Deco said.

Another clash between Italian and Spanish sides will see last season’s finalists Inter Milan take on three-time runners-up Atletico Madrid.

“Atletico have played two finals in the last 10 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,” Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said.

Record 14-time winners Real Madrid will take on German side RB Leipzig, while English Premier League leaders Arsenal have a tricky assignment against Porto.

Arsenal have won all three of their previous Champions League home matches against Porto by an aggregate score of 11-0, but have not beaten the two-time champions away.

“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,” Arsenal’s sporting director, Edu, told the club’s website.

The Harry Kane-led Bayern Munich face Italy’s Lazio, while Borussia Dortmund will be reunited with former coach Peter Bosz when they take on Dutch leaders PSV Eindhoven.

“We’ve had positive experiences with Lazio before. We’ll go into the games as favourites, but we won’t allow ourselves to underestimate them,” said Bayern captain Manuel Neuer.

Meanwhile, Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said: “PSV Eindhoven is an attractive and challenging draw. At the moment, Eindhoven is the measure of all things in the Netherlands.”

French champions Paris Saint-Germain, who scraped through a difficult group stage, come up against Spain’s Real Sociedad as they continue their hunt for a first-ever Champions League title.

The first legs will take place in February with the return matches in March.

Meanwhile, AS Roma will meet Feyenoord for the third campaign in a row after the teams were drawn together in the Europa League knockout round play-offs on Dec 18.

Jose Mourinho’s side beat Feyenoord in the final of the inaugural Europa Conference League in 2022, and then came out on top in the quarter-finals of last season’s Europa League, en route to losing the final on penalties to Sevilla.

The knockout round play-offs see the teams who came third in their Champions League groups face off against the runners-up from the Europa League group stage.

The winners will advance to the last 16, where they will join the eight group winners. REUTERS, AFP