Manchester City's fear of drawing one of Europe's big guns in the Champions League round of 16 was realized yesterday when it was handed a daunting tie with four-time winner Barcelona.

Holder Bayern Munich will play Arsenal at the same stage for the second successive season while Chelsea hero Didier Drogba will make an emotional return to west London with current side Galatasaray following yesterday's draw.

Nine-time winner Real Madrid takes on Schalke 04 and last season's runner-up Borussia Dortmund will play Zenit St Petersburg, which scraped through with just six points.

French champion Paris St Germain will play Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid was paired with AC Milan. Three-time winner Manchester United plays Greek champion Olympiakos Piraeus.

"Very tough, we are happy because we are here and we will fight for the trophy, but it's true that it could be maybe better," City director of football Txiki Begiristain, who held the same position at Barcelona and spent seven years as a player at the Spanish club, told Sky Sports.

Despite the tough draw, City will take confidence from its strong home form which has seen it score a remarkable 35 goals in eight home league matches this season, and its win over Bayern earlier this month, although it was not enough to finish top of their group.

Barcelona shares top spot in La Liga with Atletico Madrid, and will hope to have striker Lionel Messi back from a thigh strain in time for the first leg in February.

Bayern defeated Arsenal on away goals in last season's round of 16 on its way to its fifth title.

The German champion won the first game at the Emirates Stadium 3-1 but lost 0-2 at home, and its chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was not looking forward to a rematch with the English Premier League leader. "They are the leaders in the Premier League and so we have been warned," he said.

Chelsea has an intriguing tie against Galatasaray and former Stamford Bridge favorite Drogba.

The Ivorian ended his Chelsea career on a high after scoring the deciding penalty in the shootout success over Bayern in the 2012 final, and the London side's manager Jose Mourinho spoke recently of his hope that the two teams would meet.

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