Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur have been given a difficult Champions League round of 16 tie in the draw which took place yesterday in Nyon, Switzerland.

Barcelona and Juventus will be the respective opponents for the two English teams, who will have to be at their very best over the two legs if they are to progress deeper into the competition.

The three other Premier League teams in the competition, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Liverpool, have all been handed comparatively easier opponents. The North-Western teams will play against Basel, Sevilla, and Porto and will likely be expecting to progress into the next round.

The draw also gave up the mouthwatering tie of defending Champions League winners Real Madrid going up against the much-fancied Paris Saint-Germain.

Elsewhere, Shakhtar Donetsk will face AS Roma and Bayern Munich will play Besiktas.

Messi for Chelsea and Tough for Tottenham

Antonio Conte's Chelsea drawing Barcelona in the Champions League Round of 16 is a representation of the London club paying the price for failing to top Group C - they were the only English team not to finish at the top of their group.

The Blues started their campaign brightly, with the 6-0 demolition of minnows Qarabag followed by an excellent 2-1 victory over Atlético Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano.

However, they only picked up one point from six in the two games against eventual group-winners Roma, and drew against Atlético on matchday six, meaning that they would finish level on points with the Italians. As Roma had the better head-to-head record, it was they who topped the group.

Barcelona were seemingly pleased with the draw - the Catalan club was quick to fire a shot on Twitter by referencing the 2009 Champions League semi-final in which Andrés Iniesta scored a late goal to send Barcelona through to the final.

Tottenham Hotspur surprised everyone by topping an extremely difficult Group H containing Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, alongside Cypriots APOEL Nicosia.

They managed to finish the group unbeaten, beating the German team twice and recording an extremely impressive 3-1 win over the Spanish giants at Wembley in early November.

For all their good work in the group stage, however, they couldn't escape a tricky round of 16 tie against last years losing finalists Juventus.

The Old Lady finished second in Group B, albeit behind the imperious Barcelona. Juventus sit in third place in Calcio A, but are only two points behind league leaders Inter Milan.

On the face of it, Spurs' match looks a tricky prospect - though if they play like they did in the two matches against Los Blancos, then they should be able to progress through to the quarter-finals with minimal fuss.

Delight in Manchester and Merseyside

Current Premier League leaders Manchester City will be pleased with how the draw went for them - they will play against Swiss outfit FC Basel in the last 16.

After their 2-1 victory away to cross-town rivals United, the Citizens have notched up a Premier League-record 14 straight wins, and look unbeatable in their current form.

Basel put on a strong show in Group A, finishing second, three points clear of CSKA Moscow, in a difficult group. They were only three points behind group winners Manchester United, and came away with some excellent results, such as beating United 1-0 in Switzerland, and their 5-0 demolition of Benfica.

City lost their last group game against Shakhtar Donetsk but were playing what essentially was their B-team, and they had already guaranteed top spot in Group F. Despite Basel's solid European form so far this season, it is unlikely that they will trouble the Sky Blues too much.

Their Manchester rivals, United, will be similarly pleased with how the draw went for them, and will be expecting to progress to the next round after being drawn against Sevilla.

That is not to say it won't be a difficult fixture for the Old Trafford club. Los Rojiblancos did well in the group stage, apart from their hiccup in Moscow where they were thoroughly dismantled by Spartak in October.

Furthermore, their recent European pedigree speaks for itself - they famously won the UEFA Europa League three years running from 2013 to 2016.

Realistically, however, Manchester United could have been presented with a much more difficult tie than Sevilla - they will count their lucky stars they avoided Bayern, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Sevilla have never gotten past the round of 16 in the Champions League, so even though they are usually strong in Europe, they will still have to play extremely well to better the Red Devils in February.

Liverpool will also be pleased that they avoided one of the giant teams, and will be gearing up to compete against Porto in the last 16.

The Reds sealed top spot in Group E with the convincing 7-0 thrashing of Spartak Moscow, and broke the Champions League record for the most goals scored in the group stage in the process.

They will, however, be slightly concerned that three of their six group games finished as a draw, and for all their invention and cutting-edge going forward, they continue to hemorrhage goals at the back.

Porto has history in the competition - they won the 2004 Champions League final against Monaco, the year before Liverpool's famous comeback victory over AC Milan in Istanbul. Manchester United manager José Mourinho was the Portuguese side's manager back then.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is also wary of his upcoming European opponents, saying that he anticipates a 'strong' FC Porto.

But like the two Manchester clubs, Liverpool will be thrilled that they avoided the bigger clubs in the draw, and have every chance of progressing to the quarter-finals.
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