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UEFA Champions League draw: Who do Arsenal and Man City face?

19 Dec 2023
Champions League

Gunners and defending champions City are given their opponents for the last 16

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The draw for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League has taken place, with Arsenal and Manchester City both learning their fate.

Both clubs have been given favourable ties as Mikel Arteta's side take on Porto while Pep Guardiola's team take on Copenhagen, who finished above Manchester United in their group.

As the Gunners and City finished top of their respective groups, they will each have their first-leg match away from home before playing the return match a few weeks later.

City will play their first leg on Tuesday 13 February while Arsenal's match will take place on Wednesday 21 February. City's return leg is on Wednesday 6 March and Arsenal's is on Tuesday 12 March.

Champions League last-16 draw:
Porto v Arsenal
Napoli v FC Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Sociedad
Inter Milan v Atletico Madrid
PSV Eindhoven v Borussia Dortmund
Lazio v Bayern Munich
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid

Arsenal's history against Porto

It will be the fourth time Arsenal have faced Porto in the competition. The last time the Gunners played the Portuguese side was in the 2009/10 season, also in the last 16. 

On that occasion Arsenal lost the first leg 2-1 before winning 5-0 at Emirates Stadium to seal a place in the quarter-finals.

Before that, both teams met in the 2006/07 and 2008/09 group stage, with Arsenal only losing one of the four meetings, a 2-0 defeat in the latter season at Porto's Estadio do Dragao.

Man City's history against Copenhagen

City meet Copenhagen in the Champions League for a second successive season.

They faced each other in the group stage in 2022/23 and City took four points from the two meetings, winning 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium and then drawing 0-0 in the return match.

Why the draw can be good news for Premier League sides

Next season the Champions League will be revamped as more sides are included in the competition.

This means that five Premier League teams could qualify for the competition, depending on where England finish in UEFA's co-efficient rankings this campaign.

UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League.

Every win, no matter the competition, earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for defeat. At this moment in time, England sit third in the standings.

UEFA co-efficient rankings
1) Italy - 14.00
2) Germany - 13.64
3) England - 13.63
4) Spain - 12.69
5) Czech Republic - 12.00
Source: ESPN

Should Arsenal and City win their respective ties then England's coefficient ranking will increase.

And because teams from Italy, Germany and Spain have drawn each other in the last 16 then at least one of those nations' co-efficient score will take a hit.

For example, Italy's Napoli and Inter Milan face Spain's Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, respectively. Whoever gets knocked out from those two ties, their nations will not be able to accrue any more points.

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