Chelsea to face PSG

Azpilicueta and Verratti battling for the ball in the first leg of the 2013-14 quarterfinal

Chelsea will play Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16 after qualifying as group winners earlier this month. The pair met in the quarter-final stage of last season’s Champions League, a tie in which Chelsea won in dramatic fashion.

After losing 3-1 in the French capital in the first leg last season, Chelsea bounced back and won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to progress on away goals after a late Demba Ba goal. Former Chelsea defender David Luiz was sold to PSG this summer for a reported fee of over £40 million but will now return to the Bridge to play against his former side.

The first match will be in Paris on Tuesday 17 February 2015, whilst the return leg will be played in London on Wednesday 11 March 2015. Earlier in the month, Jose Mourinho expressed a desire to play PSG, simply because it would be easier and more convenient for the travelling away fans, in addition to it being a good contest. PSG qualified as runners-up in their group behind Barcelona despite leading the group until the final day when they lost 3-1 away to the Catalans.

In Ligue 1, the reigning French champions have struggled more this season than normal and lie second in the league behind leaders Marseille. They lost their last match away to Guingamp, 13th in the French league, as late as this weekend, a defeat that was their first in the league this season.

Runners-up from Chelsea’s group, Schalke, will face the tough task of Real Madrid, while English teams Manchester City face Barcelona and Arsenal play Monaco.

All the fixtures from the 2014/15 Champions League last 16 are as following:

Paris St-Germain v ChelseaManchester City v BarcelonaBayer Leverkusen v Atletico MadridJuventus v Borussia DortmundSchalke v Real MadridShakhtar Donetsk v Bayern MunichArsenal v MonacoBasel v Porto