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Manchester City and Manuel Pellegrini face a possible trip to Spain
ARSENAL and Manchester City will hope to avoid La Liga’s big two – Barcelona and Real Madrid – in the Champions League round of 16 today.
After finishing runners-up in their groups, the Gunners and City will be paired with one of five of the eight group winners.
Either of them could draw Barca, Real, Paris Saint-Germain or Atletico Madrid.
Arsenal could also face holders Bayern Munich, who beat them in the last 16 last season, while City could play last season’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, who they faced in the group stage a year ago.
With three La Liga clubs in the five they can face, however, City boss Manuel Pellegrini is set for a return to Spain, where he guided unfashionable Villarreal to the semi-finals in 2006 and Malaga to last season’s quarter-finals.
Neither Arsenal nor City can draw a team from their own country or any other runners-up.
As group winners, Manchester United and Chelsea will play one of the runners-up. United could face former City manager Roberto Mancini, now in charge of Turkish club Galatasaray. They could also draw Schalke, who they beat in the semi-finals in 2011, Zenit St Petersburg, who beat them in the European Super Cup final in 2008, old foes AC Milan or Olympiakos.
Chelsea can draw either Galatasaray, Olympiakos, Zenit, Milan or Bayer Leverkusen.
Group winners will play the first leg away, which will be played on February 18-19 and 25-26 with the return on March 11-12 and 18-19.
Group winners: Manchester United, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona.
Group runners-up: Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Galatasaray, Olympiacos, Manchester City, FC Schalke 04, Arsenal, Zenit, AC Milan.
The draw will live on Sky Sports News at 11am.