The draws for the Champions League and Europa League have taken place this morning, with Arsenal set to take on Benfica for a place in the round of 16.
The Gunners are the only team to retain a 100% record in European competition at present, thanks to wins over Molde, Dundalk and Rapid Vienna in the group stages, and they will be eager to continue that form into the knockout rounds.
Arsenal were seeded for the draw thanks to winning their groups, which should have assured them of a advantage in the next round as they avoided the other EL group winners, and the four highest ranked sides to have dropped out of the Champions League.
That wasn’t the case however as they drew Benfica, which posed as one of the worst possible opponents for them.
Manchester United haven’t been given the nicest draw either, Coming up against current La Liga leaders Real Sociedad, while Spurs will be happy with Wolfsberger.
Full draw as follows:
Wolfsberger v Tottenham
Dynamo Kyiv v Club Brugge
Real Sociedad v Manchester United
Benfica v Arsenal
Red Star Belgrade v Milan
Royal Antwerp v Rangers
Slavia Prague v Leicester City
RB Salzburg v Villarreal
Braga v Roma
Krasnodar v Dinamo Zagreb
Young Boys v Bayer Leverkusen
Molde v Hoffenheim
Granada v Napoli
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Shakhtar Donetsk
Lille v Ajax
Olympiacos v PSV
Luckily we have some time before the next round to get our form together after some tough months of late, although our team managed to keep on track in Europe regardless.
Patrick