An Italian Job For London Clubs In the Champions League
Arsenal and Chelsea were both handed tricky ties in The Champions League Round of 16 draw today in Nyon. Arsenal were given what many have described as the tie of the round against AC Milan and Chelsea were drawn against Walter Mazzarini’s Napoli.
Arsenal will take comfort in knowing that Milan have been knocked out of the tournament for the last three years at this stage by British clubs, with Arsenal defeating them at the San Siro 2-0 in the 2007 -2008 season.
However, they will have to be wary of what is a very strong side, including familiar names such as Robinho, Pato, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in what is a potent strike force, and Arsenal’s defence, questioned at the start of the season, will be well and truly pushed to their limits.
Chelsea will also look to avoid taking Napoli lightly as they were part of the group that knocked out Premier League leaders Manchester City, which also included a 2-1 victory of the Lancashire side in Naples.
Napoli similarly to Milan possess an impressive attacking line up, with the prolific Edinson Cavani, who scored twice against Manchester City, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Goran Pandev, with Marek Hamsik another threat Chelsea will have to deal with.
Arsenal and Chelsea play away first, and will hope to put themselves in a strong position for the second leg. The first leg will be held between 14th and 22nd of February, with the second leg taking place in March between the 6th and 14th. The other ties in the draw see Real Madrid take on CSKA Moscow, Barcelona against Leverkusen, Marseille against Inter, Zenit against Benfica, Basel against Bayern Munich, and Lyon Apoel Nicosia of Cyprus.
All English Clubs Get Champions League Drop-Outs In Europa League
Manchester United, Manchester City and Stoke City have been handed very tough ties in the Last 32 of the Europa League, with City taking on holders Porto whilst United and Stoke get Ajax and Valencia respectively.
Man City were second to be drawn out, and it seemed as though they were very reluctant to take on Andre Villas-Boas’ former side as the capsule they were enclosed in refused to open before eventually giving away to reveal what may prove to be a tricky tie Mancini’s men, who were favourites to lift the trophy.
Sir Alex Fergusson’s men were next to be drawn out and they will face Dutch giants Ajax, who have previously won the Champions League 4 times in their succesful history, whilst winning the Dutch league an impressive 30 times, and they make up one of three Dutch sides left in the tournament.
Stoke City face the daunting task of heading to the Mestalla in Valencia, who dropped out of Chelsea’s group in the Champions League. Tony Pulis’ side fought remarkably well in the group stage and will be proud to have made it this far, and are the only British side to qualify out of the group stages of the Europa League.
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