The draw for the round of 16 of the Champions League was conducted today afternoon in Switzerland, and the powers that be in Nyon have rewarded (or should that read punished?) Arsenal for topping Group A by drawing them AGAIN against German giants Bayern Munich.
The Gunners, who finished ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, avoided Real Madrid, but will now meet the Bavarians for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Other English clubs have been given a relatively easier draw- Leicester’s reward for finishing ahead of Porto, Brugge and FC Copenhagen is a clash against Sevilla while Man City, who finished behind Barcelona in their group, will face Monaco.
It’s not been smooth sailing for Unai Emery in Paris this season (they’re third currently behind Nice and Monaco) and his debut season just got tougher after they drew Barca.
The two Madrids- Real and Atletico will fancy their chances of going through to the quarters, after drawing Napoli and Bayer Leverkusen respectively. Then there is the battle of two veteran great keepers in Iker Casillas vs Gigi Buffon in Porto v Juve.
Full Round of 16 Draw- Team on the left hosts the first leg
Coming back to Bayern v Arsenal, the jokes are out in full force on social media- Bayern’s twitter account even joked about booking tickets to London in midweek. It’s however probably getting a bit stale and beyond a meme now for Arsenal fans- this is the FOURTH time in four years that the Gunners will be travelling to Munich.
Arsene Wenger’s side have now drawn Bayern in the KO stages in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2016/17 and were in the same group as the Bavarian giants in 2015/16.
Arsenal did however manage to beat Bayern at home in the group stages in 2015/16 and they will have the advantage of hosting the second leg at the Emirates. Carlo Ancelotti’s current Bayern squad is not the all conquering one of Pep Guardiola (they finished second in their group behind Atletico). All hope’s not lost for the Gunners, but Bayern will still go in as favourites.
The reaction of the bookies has been somewhat predictable- the odds on the teams with “good draws”- Real (6/1 to 9/2), Atletico (9/1 to 8/1) and Man City (12/1 to 9/1) to win the title have significantly been lowered. Arsenal, who were at 20/1 before the draw, are now at 25/1 to go all the way. If you fancy the Gunners to lift the trophy in Cardiff, check out the betfreebets.uk website for some good free bet options (no deposits either!) that you might want to use.
Here’s a game Arsenal fans will be looking to for inspiration a LOT in the next couple of months
Arsenal v Bayern Munich (Round 3 2015/16)