Draw pits Barcelona against Arsenal in quarter-finals

REUTERS - Titleholders Barcelona will play Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and remain on course for a repeat of last year’s final against Manchester United after the draw was made on Friday.

United will travel to Bayern Munich for the first leg of their quarter-final in a rematch of the 1999 European Cup final, where the English Premier League side snatched two goals at the death for an extraordinary 2-1 win.

“This is a very difficult but also attractive draw,” Bayern General Director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told his club website.

The winners will face Olympique Lyon - conquerers of Real Madrid in the previous round—or Girondins Bordeaux in the semi-finals after the two French clubs were pitted together in the last eight of the draw made at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

Inter Milan’s reward for knocking out Chelsea is a quarter-final against CSKA Moscow, with either Barcelona or Arsenal waiting if they get past that hurdle.

Barcelona’s match against Arsenal is a repeat of the 2006 final which the Spanish club won 2-1 in Paris. The London club will host the first leg.

The quarter-final first-leg ties will be played on March 30 and 31.

The final will be played at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.