Sport: Champions League draw: Chelsea face Barcelona as the Manchesters Gets Easy Legs

Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool were all delivered with highly favourable draws in the last-16 of the Champions League – although there will be less cause for celebration at Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

Even so there is a very real prospect that all five Premier League clubs could make it through to the quarter-finals.

Chelsea appear to have been delivered the trickiest task as they were drawn against Barcelona - and will play at the Nou Camp in the second leg - for the first time since they triumphed in the semi-finals on their way to winning the Champions League in 2012.

Barcelona will not relish facing Chelsea, either, although the English club will be kicking themselves. Had they won their group they would be facing Shakhtar Donestk, who have been drawn with Roma.

For Spurs the reward for winning their group is a first meeting in European competition with last season’s finalists, Juventus, who are currently only third in Serie A but have a rich pedigree of success in this competition. Spurs, as a group winner, will play their second leg at home, at Wembley.

0 - Lionel Messi has faced Chelsea eight times without scoring a single goal from 29 shots; his worst record against a single club during his career.

The draw was far more kind to United – who were paired with Sevilla, who finished second in Liverpool’s group, and who they have never faced before. Liverpool were drawn against Porto, while City will be pleased that they will face Basel, with the Swiss runners-up to United in their group.

The showpiece draw of the round is undoubtedly the holders Real Madrid, who were runners-up to Spurs, against Paris Saint-Germain give the scale, ambition and squads the clubs have. Not least with Kylian Mbappe having chosen PSG ahead of Real last summer. There will be nervousness at PSG that their coach, Unai Emery, has never won at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The final tie is Bayern Munich against Besiktas.

— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) December 11, 2017
11:41am

Happy days
As for Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool - things have gone pretty well there haven't they? Basel were the easiest side available and City should brush them aside with minimal fuss.

Sevill are currently fifth in La Liga and United will fully expect to see them off. Liverpool will not have things all their way against a Porto side top of their league and unbeaten domestically in 14 games. However, the Portuguese side only managed to finish second in a Champions League group won by Besiktas.

11:35am
We meet again
The other cracker involving an English side is Spurs against Juventus. Mauricio Pochettino's side played the Italians in pre-season and beat them 2-0 at Wembley. Another nailed on English victory then...

Of course, the overwhelming tie of the round is Real Madrid vs PSG. The two sides were first and third in the pre-draw betting to lift the trophy in May, but one of them will not even make it to the quarter-finals. The two teams faced each other in the 2015/16 group stage when they drew 0-0 in Paris before Real triumphed 1-0 at home. The French side are a rather different prospect nowadays though.

Another tough test but afer beating Madrid there will be no fear. Let's make sure we get Wembley rocking 👏🏾

— Ledley King (@LedleyKing) December 11, 2017
Real Madrid v PSG, Chelsea v Barcelona and Spurs v Juventus are mouth-watering ties in the last 16 of the Champions League. Ooooft!

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) December 11, 2017
11:26am
Reaction
Well, from an English perspective that Chelsea tie against Barcelona is the tastiest. This is the sixth time those two sides have been drawn against each other in the Champions League knockout stages (plus one time they were in the same group). The overall knockout stage score since the turn of the century is: Barcelona 3 Chelsea 2.

11:21am
Full draw
Juventus vs Tottenham
Basel vs Manchester City
Porto vs Liverpool
Sevilla vs Manchester United
Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Roma
Chelsea vs Barcelona
Bayern Munich vs Besiktas
11:19am
Round of 16 - game eight
Bayern Munich vs Besiktas

11:19am
Round of 16 - game seven
Chelsea vs Barcelona

11:18am
Round of 16 - game six
Shakhtar Donetsk vs Roma

11:17am
Round of 16 - game five
Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain

11:16am
Round of 16 - game four
Sevilla vs Manchester United

11:16am
Round of 16 - game three
Porto vs Liverpool

11:15am
Round of 16 - game two
Basel vs Manchester City

11:14am
Round of 16 - game one
Juventus vs Tottenham

11:12am
And it's live
The draw has begun. Sort of. A man in a suit is currently - and incredibly tediously - running through the rules, regulations and permutations.

11:04am
Favourites
It's almost draw time. Which team would you least like to face in the next round?

Paris St-Germain are fairly short-priced favourites to succeed Real Madrid as champions, followed in the betting Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

If you fancy a flutter on Basel you can find odds of 300/1 knocking about.

10:53am
One year on
This time last year there were only three English sides in the Champions League draw.

Two of them had advanced as group winners - Arsenal and Leicester City. Manchester City joined them as runners-up.

Arsenal and Leicester City are absent this time around, but it is a rather different outlook for the Premier League with England providing five of the 16 teams still remaining:

1. England - 5 teams
2. Spain - 3 teams
3. Italy - 2 teams
4. Germany, France, Switzerland, Ukraine, Portugal, Turkey - 1 team

10:37am
Bring them on
Speaking of Tottenham's potential opponents, Mauricio Pochettino gave some interesting quotes this weekend when asked about who he would prefer to face in the last 16.

On the one hand you have Bayern Munich or Juventus. On the other you have Basel, Porto, Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk.

I love to play against Real Madrid, the big teams. I love the challenge and to challenge the best as I’m a winner. I prefer to play against a big team. It’s a big test for us to play against big teams.

You can see the game against Real Madrid. I prefer to play against a team that will motivate everyone rather than a team all people say you will beat easily, then it gets complicated.

We love to play against a big team and we always give that little bit extra which you need. Sometimes you want to play a big team as the people are scared a little bit and they support and help the team, and provide us with better energy.

Do we believe him?

10:32am
Deserved reward
For four of the five Premier League clubs in today's draw, they have the luxury of knowing that they are in the seeded section of the pot as group winners.

Which, in theory, should mean an easy ride. And yet...

Having gone undefeated in a group that contained Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, Spurs could now find themselves facing Bayern Munich or Juventus in the first knockout round. The same fate might await Liverpool, Manchester City or Manchester United.

10:20am
A numbers game
How much could Chelsea failure to beat Atletico Madrid in their final group stage cost them? Win and they would have advanced top of the group. But draw - as they did 1-1 - and they would finish runners-up.

Which now means a 41 per cent of facing Barcelona in the next round.

Allow mathematician Julien Guyon to provide such insight:

Here are the CORRECT #draw #probabilities for the round of 16 of the #ChampionsLeague, based on 4,000,000 simulations of the OFFICIAL DRAW PROCEDURE (which is quite complicated). Watch how likely Barcelona-Chelsea is: 41.3%! Then PSG-CHE & BES-CHE at 29.4% pic.twitter.com/PPpACBMdkt

10:04am
Draw preview
What is it?

This is the draw for the last-16 stage of the Champions League.

When is it?

The draw will take place on Monday, December 11, 2017.

What time is kick-off?

The balls will be drawn at 11am (GMT) in Nyon, Switzerland. You can follow all the action right here when this page turns into our live blog.

Which English teams are involved?

All five Premier League sides that entered European football's elite competition advanced through the group stage. That means Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham will all take place in the last-16 draw.

Chelsea were the only English team to make it through as runners-up, with the other four sides all topping their group.

 Chelsea 
Chelsea drew their final group match against Atletico Madrid CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Here is the full list of the 32 teams who will go into the pot:

Group winners:  
Barcelona, Besiktas, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Tottenham Hotspur.

Runners-up: 
Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Basel, Porto, Juventus, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk.

How does the draw work?

• Two seeding pots will be formed: one consisting of group winners and the other of runners-up.
• No team can play a club from their initial Champions League group or any side from their own country.
• Seeded group winners will be away in the round of 16 first legs on 13/14 and 20/21 February and at home in the return matches on 6/7 and 13/14 March.

Who can the Premier League sides face?

Chelsea: Barcelona, Besiktas, Paris Saint-Germain.

Liverpool: Bayern Munich, Basel, Porto, Juventus, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk.

Manchester City: Bayern Munich, Basel, Porto, Juventus, Real Madrid, Sevilla.

Manchester United: Bayern Munich, Porto, Juventus, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk.

Tottenham : Bayern Munich, Basel, Porto, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk.

Source: THE TELEGRAPH