Manchester United will face Real
Madrid in the last-16 of the
Champions League, Arsenal will
travel to Bayern, while Celtic
have been handed a tie against
Italian champions Juventus. - Marcotti dissects the last-16
- Delaney: Jose and Ronaldo
headline
- Blog: Real pressure for United
tie
- Blog: Familiar faces await Milan The tie of the round sees
Cristiano Ronaldo return to his
old club for the first time since
leaving for £80 million in 2009 -
while it will also pit Jose Mourinho
against Sir Alex Ferguson, with many considering the Portuguese
to be the natural successor to
Ferguson at Old Trafford. Ronaldo scored 118 goals in 292
appearances for United, but it
was another Ronaldo - the
Brazilian striker - who took the
honours when the clubs last
faced each other in 2003, scoring a hat-trick at Old Trafford as
Real went through 6-5 on
aggregate. The clubs, who both have a rich
history in the competition, first
met in the European Cup in April
1957, when Real triumphed 5-3 in
the semi-final. United defender Rio Ferdinand
immediately made it clear he was
excited at the draw, tweeting:
"Oh yes, Madrid!! What a great
couple a games that'll be!! @
Cristiano see u soon bro!!" United's club secretary John
Alexander hoped there was a
lucky omen in the draw. He told
Sky Sports News: "Out of several
standout ties, I think this is the
one. It's the tie that everyone wanted to see - but that nobody
wanted to see, they wanted to
save it for later in the
competition. "When you think about the
traditions of these two clubs
they have both been incredibly
successful, but of course the past
is history. One thing going in our
favour is that our one victory over Real Madrid in this
competition was in the year we
won the final at Wembley [in
1968] so let's hope that is a lucky
omen.'' Arsenal, meanwhile, will face last
year's runners-up Bayern Munich
for a place in the quarter-finals
of the competition - while Celtic
will face Italian champions
Juventus, who helped knocked holders Chelsea out of the
competition at the group stage. Elsewhere in the draw, a glamour
tie sees two European
heavyweights, AC Milan and
Barcelona, go head-to-head for
the right to reach the quarter-
finals. In a remarkable coincidence, all
eight draws exactly matched
those made during Wednesday's
rehearsal - with Malaga facing
Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk
going up against Borussia Dortmund. The two remaining matches see
Galatasaray facing Schalke, while
Paris St Germain have been
drawn against Spanish side
Valencia.