Arsenal await Champions League fate as Barcelona loom in next round

Messi menace: Arsenal could have to face Barcelona's Lionel Messi in the first knockout game as they failed to top their group
11 April 2012

Arsenal will find out the price that must be paid for their failure to secure top spot in their Champions League group tomorrow, with favourites Barcelona among their four potential last-16 opponents.

That the Gunners ended up needing to win their final match against Partizan Belgrade to progress to the first knockout round after winning three matches on the trot at the start of Group H, is being blamed mainly on Arsene Wenger's decision to rotate his squad before qualification was assured.

Wenger might reflect that he got it wrong should his team end up facing Barca for the second successive year.

The Catalan giants dismantled Arsenal at the quarter-final stage last term, when a 6-3 aggregate defeat flattered the Londoners.

As Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid and last season's beaten finalists Inter Milan are potential opponents, Wenger will presumably hope for a pairing with Schalke, who finished above Lyon in Group B but find themselves languishing in 10th spot in the Bundesliga table, having suffered seven defeats and struggling badly for consistency.

"We take what we get," Wenger said.

"The difficulty might be more or less but it is part of the draw."

While Arsenal look ahead with trepidation, north London rivals Tottenham wait the outcome of a draw that will be jointly conducted by Sir Bobby Charlton and Ronnie Whelan with relish.

Not only did Harry Redknapp's side top a group containing Inter Milan, meaning they will avoid both the holders and Arsenal, they did so having become the first team to score at least twice in all six matches.

They could encounter Valencia, who had two closely-fought tussles with Manchester United but lack star quality since the departures of David Villa and David Silva, plus Roma and current Serie A leaders AC Milan.

However, Redknapp is presumably hoping for FC Copenhagen, who have become the first Danish side to reach the knockout stages.

The same will also be true of Manchester United - who like Tottenham could face French duo Marseille and Lyon - and Chelsea.

United and Chelsea's experience should help, although Inter - who are expected to be crowned world champions on Saturday when they take on surprise finalists TP Mazembe - are not exactly opponents of choice, even if they are struggling to replicate their recent dominance of Italian football under Rafael Benitez.

The former Liverpool chief endured a rocky relationship with Chelsea and there was no meeting of minds with Sir Alex Ferguson either, given the alarming manner in which their relationship spiralled downhill in the final months of his Anfield reign.

For the same reason, Inter against Real Madrid would be a tie to relish, doubtless allowing Jose Mourinho the chance to emphasise how difficult Benitez is finding it to follow in his footsteps at the San Siro.

Real are among the favourites to lift the trophies, although given their recent five-goal mauling by Barcelona, they are clearly not the team to beat.

There is also plenty of British representation in the Europa League, with Liverpool, Manchester City and Rangers all going into the hat for the last 32.

As with the Champions League, sides from the same country, or the same group, cannot be paired with each other.

Rangers could still find themselves pitched into a second Battle of Britain this season though, having failed to secure a top seeding - and a second-leg at home - with their record in finishing third behind Manchester United and Valencia.

Sevilla, victors in 2006 and 2007, are probably the most dangerous non-seeds, although, if only on geographical grounds, Belarus' BATE Borisov and Metalist Kharkiv of the Ukraine, who made it through at the expense of Sampdoria, are teams to be avoided.

Aside from City and Liverpool, FC Porto are also heavily fancied for the competition as a whole, as are Zenit St Petersburg, who won the tournament in 2008.

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