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Champions League Round of 16: A Tale Of Reunions.

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There was a re-emergence of a number of reunions in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 that took place in Nyon, Switzerland earlier today, with three of the ties having been played in last season’s competition.

FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF saw off Manchester City FC and FC Schalke 04 respectively at this stage in 2013/14 and will hope for a repeat performance this time round. Chelsea FC beat Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals and are paired with the French side again, while there are historically significant ties between Juventus and Borussia Dortmund, and Arsenal FC and AS Monaco FC – in the latter case due to the Arsène Wenger connection.

Round of 16 draw:
17 February & 11 March
Paris Saint-Germain (France) v Chelsea FC (English)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v FC Bayern München (Germany)
18 February & 10 March
FC Schalke 04 (Germany) v Real Madrid CF (Spain)
FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland) v FC Porto (Portugal)
24 February & 18 March
Manchester City FC (English) v FC Barcelona (Spain)
Juventus (Italy) v Borussia Dortmund (Germany)
25 February & 17 March
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (Germany) v Club Atlético de Madrid (Spain)
Arsenal FC (English) v AS Monaco FC (France)

Road to Berlin
Quarter-final draw: 20 March
Quarter-finals: 14/15 & 21/22 April
Semi-final draw: 24 April
Semi-finals: 5/6 & 12/13 May
Final (Olympiastadion, Berlin): 20.45CET, 6 June

Draw facts
• Dortmund overcame Juventus 3-1 in the 1997 UEFA Champions League final in Munich; the Italian team had won 6-1 over two legs in the UEFA Cup final four years earlier.

  • Paris took on Chelsea in last season’s quarter-finals, the Londoners retrieving a 3-1 first-leg defeat with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge to progress on away goals.
  • Manchester City-Barcelona is another repeat of a 2013/14 encounter, the Spanish club prevailing 2-0 in Manchester and 2-1 at home in last season’s round of 16.
  • Real Madrid overwhelmed Schalke in the round of 16 last term, winning 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen and 3-1 in Spain; Cristiano Ronaldo scored four times in the tie.
  • Atlético and Leverkusen played out two 1-1 draws in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage.
  • Shakhtar and Bayern, and Porto and Basel have never met before.
  • While Arsenal and Monaco have never played each other before, Arsène Wenger was in charge of Monaco between 1987 and 1994, winning Ligue 1 (1988) and the Coupe de France (1991). Monaco also reached the 1992 European Cup Winners’ Cup final under Wenger, losing 2-0 to SV Werder Bremen.

 

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Akin Akingbala is an international journalist based in Lagos, Nigeria. Aside being happily married, he has interests in music, sports and loves traveling.

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