NYON • Pep Guardiola faces a resumption of hostilities with Real Madrid after Manchester City were drawn against the Spanish La Liga giants in the last 16 of the Champions League, while there will be a rerun of the 2012 final when Chelsea meet Bayern Munich.

The draw was tough for the Premier League sides, with Liverpool landing a two-legged tie against Atletico Madrid and Tottenham being pitted against German Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig.

Finishing top of Group C did not do much for City's hopes of avoiding a big team as they seek to lift their maiden European Cup, even though they will play the second leg of their glamour tie against Real at the Etihad.

Txiki Begiristain, the club's director of football, admitted that Zinedine Zidane's team would be a tough prospect, adding: "It's a difficult one. Real Madrid are the best. We want to be the best, so we have to try and beat them.

"It's always a pleasure to play against Real. We know them very well. They know our manager."

Real's firepower will stretch City's defence - Aymeric Laporte's long-term injury leaves him a doubt for the tie - to the limit, though Guardiola's links with Barcelona means he will not lack motivation when he comes up against the 13-time European champions.

The City manager beat Real in the semi-finals when he was in charge of Barcelona in 2011, but he lost heavily to them over two legs with Bayern in 2014.

Memories of beating Bayern eight years ago for their first European Cup will boost Chelsea when they take on the Bundesliga champions for the first time since then.

But while Frank Lampard wore the armband in that game, the Blues manager knows his inconsistent team will need to find form against Hansi Flick's side, especially as the second leg will be played at the Allianz Arena.

The Bavarians will be gunning for revenge after losing the final 4-3 on penalties on home soil and the club started the mind games yesterday, with an official Twitter post going viral after showing it had muted "2012" and "(Didier) Drogba".

The former Ivory Coast striker netted a late equaliser to force a 1-1 draw, leading to the shoot-out, and Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, who played in that game, claimed he was looking forward to facing Lampard's team again.

"We're excited to go to London, we have some good memories there," he said. "Chelsea are a dangerous team, we need to take them seriously and with focus, we want to go through to the next round."

Liverpool will also need to be at their best to deal with Atletico, who are always hard to beat. The six-time European champions have the second leg at Anfield but Diego Simeone's team have a history of upsetting the odds in Europe.

On their second meeting in the knockout phase of a European tournament - the Reds were eliminated 2-2 on away goals in the 2010 Europa League semi-final - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told the club website: "A good draw, a difficult game like it should be.

"I don't think Mr Simeone is running through his living room and is happy that he got Liverpool.

"Two teams who are used to playing intense football, different styles and slightly different organisation of course, but both are ready for intensity and that makes it pretty tough for both."

While Spurs avoided one of the European heavyweights, they cannot afford to take Leipzig, who are six points clear of Bayern, lightly as their coach Julian Nagelsmann is considered to be one of the best up-and-coming tacticians around.

He also believes that they can spring an upset, telling the club's Twitter feed: "The games will be exciting and we'll need to put in two top performances. We're more than capable of doing that."

The first legs will be played between Feb 18 and 26 and the return games from March 10 to 18.

Separately, yesterday's Europa League last-32 draw saw Manchester United drawn to face Belgium's Club Brugge, while Arsenal were pitted against Greece's Olympiakos.

In the pick of the other ties, Dutch champions Ajax were drawn with La Liga outfit Getafe, while Serie A leaders Inter Milan travel to Bulgaria's Ludogorets.

The first leg of the last-32 ties will be played on Feb 20 before the reverse fixtures a week later.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, THE GUARDIAN