The last 16 round of the Champions League will confront two of the best forwards in the world: Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero. The Argentina teammates will face each other as Barcelona and Manchester City were paired in yesterday’s draw.
NYON, Switzerland — Argentina teammates Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero will face each other in the Champions League last 16 round as their teams Barcelona and Manchester City, respectively, were drawn together in Switzerland yesterday.
Of course, they will not be the only Argentines to defend the colours of their teams, as Javier Mascherano plays for Barça, and Pablo Zabaleta, Martín Demichelis and Wilfredo Caballero play for the English champion.
However, the eyes of soccer fans will be on Messi and Agüero, two of the best players of the moment.
“Looking forward to playing in the next round of the UEFA Champions League. It’ll be really nice to face my friend Sergio Agüero as I always beat him at FIFA (a soccer video game), but let’s see what happens on the pitch,” Messi said in facebook.
Barcelona will once again travel first, on February 24, to play Manchester City. Barça beat City 4-1 on aggregate at the same stage last season.
A Champions League draw heavy with reunions yesterday also paired defending champion Real Madrid with Schalke a year after a 6-1 rout in Germany sparked a 9-2 aggregate victory. “We want to show that we’ve learned something,” Schalke coach Roberto Di Matteo said. “We got the toughest rival.”
The draw also paired: Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea, Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich, FC Basel v FC Porto, Juventus v Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen v Atlético Madrid and Arsenal v Monaco.
Also, defending champion Sevilla will play Borussia Mönchengladbach in the last 32 of the Europa League. Five-time European champion Liverpool will first play at home against Besiktas, Tottenham hosts Fiorentina first, and Napoli travels for the first leg at Trabzonspor. In other matches, Roma hosts Feyenoord, Ajax is at home first against Legia Warsaw, and Everton is away first against Young Boys.
EUROPEAN LEAGUES. Everton took advantage of two deflections and a defensive mistake to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 in the English Premier League yesterday, leaving the visitors without a point on the road this season.
Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas and Steven Naismith scored for Everton, while Bobby Zamora pulled one back for QPR.
In Italy, Roberto Mancini recorded his first league victory back in charge at Inter Milan with a 2-0 win at 10-man Chievo Verona. Mateo Kovacic and Andrea Ranocchia scored for Inter, which had goalkeeper Samir Handanovic to thank for several crucial saves.
Torino leapfrogged Chievo with a 0-0 draw at Empoli in a relegation battle which the home side dominated.
In Spain, a goal by midfielder Luis Farina gave Deportivo La Coruña a 1-0 win against last-place Elche in the Spanish league. The 23-year-old Argentine scored his club’s first goal in six matches by curling a long shot into the top far corner in the 22nd minute.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald