Ronaldo v Rooney & Fergie v Mourinho as Man United face Real Madrid in Champions League (plus Arsenal v Bayern Munich and Celtic v Juventus!)
Real Madrid to visit Old Trafford for the since time since 2003
Arsenal to play last season's runners up, Bayern Munich
After beating Barca, Celtic must get the better of Italian champions Juventus
Hot favourites Barcelona will play AC Milan, as they did four times last year
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UPDATED:
11:37 GMT, 20 December 2012
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW
Galatasaray v Schalke
Celtic v Juventus
Arsenal v Bayern Munich
Shakhter Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
AC Milan v Barcelona
Real Madrid v Manchester United
Valencia v PSG
Porto v Malaga
**First leg ties played on February 12/13 or 20/21, second legs on March 5/6 or 12/13.
For full details on all the teams in the draw, click here
Sir Alex Ferguson will face Jose Mourinho in the Champions League last 16 after Manchester United were drawn against Real Madrid.
The game will also pitch Cristiano Ronaldo against his former club for the first time since he left in a world record 80million deal in 2009.
Elsewhere in the draw, Arsenal won't be too disappointed with their lot – dodging Barcelona – after they were picked out with last season's runners up Bayern Munich.
And Scottish champions Celtic, who beat Barca earlier the competition, were drawn against Italian side Juventus, who topped Chelsea's group.
Barcelona's match-up with AC Milan is the pick of the rest of the ties, which will be played in February, but in truth it pales in significance to United versus Real.
Up for the cup: Sir Alex Ferguson is up against his old friend Jose Mourinho in the Champions League
The two Ronnies: Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Old Trafford for the first time since his move to Real Madrid
The draw comes just a day after Ferguson heaped praise on his old friend Mourinho.
The Scot said: ‘He is very intelligent, he has
charisma, his players play for him, and he is a good looking guy. I
think I have most of those things, too, apart from his good looks.
'He’s
got a confidence about himself, saying “We’ll win this”, and “I’m the
Special One”. I could never come out and say we’re going to win this
game. It’s maybe a wee bit of my Scottishness’
Rio Ferdinand was first to react to the draw on Twitter, writing: 'Oh yes, Madrid!! What a great couple a games that'll be!! @Cristiano see u soon bro!!'
That was followed by Ruud van Nistelrooy, who played for both.
He wrote: 'United or Madrid.. Who do I want to win Played my heart out for them both. Proud to have played for both. #impossible #MayTheBestTeamWin.'
Celtic boss Neil Lennon, on Twitter on Thursday morning, had asked Santa to be nice to Celtic.
Lying in wait: The Champions League draw for the last 16 has thrown out some intriguing ties
And afterwards, he said: ‘In terms of
glamour it’s great, in terms of qualification it will be very tough.
But every team would be tough.
‘We’ll look forward to it. We want to go as far as we can and it’s another huge game for us to enjoy.’
Lennon’s side beat Barcelona and
Spartak Moscow in Glasgow after drawing with Benfica as they progressed
from Group G behind the Catalans.
‘The home game is pivotal. We’ll have
to take some sort of advantage to Turin. Celtic Park is a very special
arena and I’m sure the fans will raise the roof again.’
Meanwhile, Turkish side Galatasaray
were drawn against Arsenal's group winners, Schalke, while German
champions, who topped City's group, will face Shakhtar.
The draw contained nine former champions of Europe, including United and Celtic, though not last year's winners Chelsea.
Proceedings began with a tribute to Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova, who is
having an emergency operation today after suffering a relapse of a cancerous tumour in his salivary gland.
As with all UEFA draws, there was plenty to get through before we got down to the real action, namely the explanation of rules.
Essentially, all group winners were
drawn against the runners-up with the caveats that teams from the same
country or same qualifying group could face each other.
The first leg ties will be played on February 12th or 20th with second legs on either March 5th or 12th.
THE LAST TIME REAL MADRID CAME TO OLD TRAFFORD
WHEN JOSE MOURINHO FIRST APPEARED ON SIR ALEX FERGUSON'S RADAR
