Arsenal land dream Ucl Draw as Gunners can plot route to Champions League final
The ucl draw has handed Arsenal a last-16 meeting with Bayer Leverkusen, a result that leaves Mikel Arteta’s side with a potentially favourable path through the knockout stage and keeps their hopes of silverware alive.
Ucl Draw gives Arsenal a last-16 tie with Bayer Leverkusen and a familiar face in Piero Hincapié
Arsenal will play Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League last 16. The match offers Piero Hincapié a chance to come up against his former club; Hincapié is on loan with the Gunners, and Arsenal have the option to make that deal permanent.
If Arsenal get past the German side, the quarter-final opponent will be the winner of Sporting or Bodø/Glimt for a place in the last four. Beyond that, a semi-final would pit the Gunners against one of Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Newcastle or Tottenham.
Crucially for Arteta’s side, the draw placed Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Chelsea all on the opposite side of the bracket, meaning Arsenal avoided those teams in the knockout stage.
Arsenal's busy domestic schedule: Premier League lead, Carabao Cup final and Mansfield Town in FA Cup
The draw comes while Arsenal sit top of the Premier League and are in the Carabao Cup final. They also face League One side Mansfield Town in the FA Cup fifth round.
Those simultaneous domestic commitments, combined with the favourable Champions League route, have fuelled speculation among supporters about whether the Gunners could push for multiple trophies this season, including talk of a quadruple.
Manchester City draw Real Madrid again; first and second legs scheduled for March
Manchester City have been drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16. This pairing is the sixth time the clubs have met since the 2019–20 season. The two clubs already met in the group stage, when City came from behind to win 2-1 in December.
The first legs of the Champions League last 16 will be played on 10 and 11 March, with the second legs on 17 and 18 March. Pep Guardiola spoke after the draw and, ahead of Manchester City’s trip to Leeds tomorrow evening, said: “For our club, as much as you play against the best teams in the whole history of this competition, you learn and improve and you are better in the future. ”
Danny Rohl and Luke McCowan spar as Scottish title race and European exits loom
In the Scottish Premiership, Danny Rohl reminded Luke McCowan that Rangers are ahead of Celtic in the title race after McCowan confidently claimed: “We know if we’re at it no team in that league touches us”.
McCowan’s remark followed his team’s 1-0 win over Stuttgart in Germany on Thursday night. That result saw the reigning William Hill Premiership champions lose their Europa League play-off 4-2 on aggregate. Ahead of the Glasgow derby at Ibrox on Sunday, and with 10 fixtures remaining, Rangers sit four points behind leaders Hearts and two points ahead of Celtic, who have a game in hand over the leading pair.
Rohl said: “I think at the moment we are in the second position, they are behind us. They have at the moment seven or eight defeats. I think in general it makes no sense to speak too much about the other side, we have to focus on ourselves. We want to win this game. I see my team is ready to take points and then we’ll see on Sunday. Hopefully both teams try everything and I’m confident that we have a big chance of winning this game. ”
Conference and Europa League draws set up Palace, Forest and Villa ties
Crystal Palace will take on AEK Larnaca in the Conference League last 16. Palace faced AEK Larnaca at home in October and lost 1-0. The winner of that Conference League tie could meet Fiorentina in the quarter-finals.
Former Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patrício was the special guest for the Conference League draw; he won the competition with Roma in 2022.
In the Europa League, Nottingham Forest will play Midtjylland and Aston Villa will play Lille. As Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest find themselves in the same half of the draw, there is no prospect of an all-English final; the two teams could meet in a semi-final.
Other last-16 pairings and assorted headlines from around the game
Several other Champions League last-16 ties were confirmed: Bayern Munich, who finished second in the group phase, will play Atalanta; Newcastle United will face Barcelona; Liverpool will take on Galatasaray; and defending champions Paris Saint-Germain will face Chelsea, a repeat of last year’s Club World Cup final in which the Premier League side emerged on top.
Brief items and features circulating alongside the draws include: T20 World Cup – Ahmed comes in as England bowl against New Zealand; Lord Sugar’s hopefuls jet off to Hong Kong; Annie and Nick look ahead to the Brit Awards; the making of Charli XCX’s fourth album during the 2020 lockdown; an occult-tinged crime that shakes a Welsh village to its core; a story headlined 'Borthwick relaxed but defiant amid England Six Nations slide'; a comparison piece on Cadillac and Audi as two very different projects sharing the same ambition; the #DoItLikeHarry feature on a viral Twickenham mascot turned England U18s prospect; and a look at the £37m cost of Manchester United’s past two managerial changes.
