Monday, 12 December 2016

Champions League Draw 2016-17: Round-of-16 Fixture Schedule and Dates Released Champions League Draw 2016-17: Round-of-16 Fixture Schedule and Dates Released


Arsenal will play Bayern Munich once again in the pick of the fixtures in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 following Monday's draw, while Paris Saint-Germain face Barcelona.

Leicester City's reward for topping their group is a tie with three-time UEFA Europa League champions Sevilla and Manchester City will play AS Monaco.

Meanwhile, Juventus take on Porto, Real Madrid will face Napoli and Atletico Madrid play Bayer Leverkusen. Borussia Dortmund will meet Benfica in the remaining tie.

Here is confirmation of the draw, per the UEFA Champions League's official Twitter feed:

According to UEFA's official website, the first legs of the round will played in the weeks commencing February 13 and 20, while the second legs will be in the weeks of March 6 and 13.

The seeded group winners will be away in the opener and then at home for the return leg.

After exiting the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage in each of the last six years, the pressure will be on the Gunners to progress past it this time around.

Arsenal defied the odds to win Group A ahead of PSG and for their efforts have been rewarded with a draw against Bayern.

Unfortunately for Arsene Wenger's side, while they may have been able to avoid the likes of Barcelona by winning their group they've been handed an equally tough draw here, one that will feel familiar to Gunners fans—Bayern knocked them out at this stage in 2013 and 2014 and thrashed them 5-1 in the group phase last year.

Real will be looking to make history as the first side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era, as well as add to their collection of 11 European Cups.

Los Blancos are top of La Liga and enjoying a 35-game unbeaten streak, so Napoli will find progressing difficult.

The Italian side will still be tricky, but they're among the most favourable teams of all those the Los Blancos could have drawn—provided they avoid complacency, they should progress.

Leicester are enjoying their first taste of Europe's premier competition and made it through the group stage at the first attempt, topping Group G ahead of Porto.

The Foxes largely kept things tight throughout, shipping just one goal in their first five games prior to their 5-0 thrashing in Portugal, but Claudio Ranieri's side have been a shadow of the team they were last season—progressing past Sevilla will be a huge ask.

Jorge Sampaoli's side are not only boast an exceptional record in Europe of late with their hat-trick of Europa League wins, they're also going strong in La Liga.

Man City enjoyed an unprecedented run to the semi-finals last year, and with Pep Guardiola in charge, they'll be hoping to go further still.

Monaco might seem a kind draw, but they'll be very difficult. The Ligue 1 side topped Group E and have scored a staggering 53 goals in 17 league games this season, not to mention they knocked Arsenal out at this stage in 2015—City will need to be wary.

While Barcelona aren't yet out of La Liga's title race, it's certainly advantage Real who hold a six-point lead over the Blaugrana—as such, the Champions League might perhaps be an even greater priority than usual.

PSG will provide a real test, the kind Barca would have been hoping to avoid at this stage after winning their group.

They beat PSG 5-1 on aggregate on their way to winning the trophy in 2015, but they'll need to ensure they put in strong performances to do so again.

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