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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
Sport
Paul Myers

French champions PSG to face Real Sociedad in last-16 of the Champions League

French champions Paris Saint-Germain will play Real Sociedad in the last-16 of the Champions League. REUTERS - MASSIMO PINCA

Paris Saint-Germain were on Monday drawn to play Real Sociedad in the last-16 of the Champions League.

PSG finished second in Group F behind Borussia Dortmund and will take on the Spanish outfit for the first time in a European competition.

The defending champions Manchester City will play the Danish side FC Copenhagen and last season's runners-up Inter Milan will face Atletico Madrid.

Fellow Spaniards Barcelona take on Napoli and Porto will vie with Arsenal who have not reached the last eight of European football's most prestigious tournament since the 2009/10 campaign when they beat Porto in the last-16.

Barcelona ended Arsenal's surge with a 6-3 aggregate victory. Lionel Messi scored all of Barcelona's goals in the 4-1 thrashing at the Camp Nou in the second leg.

The Argentine, who played at PSG for two years before leaving to ply his trade in the United States, was among a clutch of stars that included Neymar and Gigi Buffon who were drafted into the French capital to smooth PSG's path to Champions League glory - one of the key ambitions of the club's Qatari paymasters.

Chase

The team reached the 2020 final under Thomas Tuchel and lost to Bayern Munich. Mauriccio Pochettino took the side to the semis the following year.

But in 2022 and 2023, PSG failed to progress past the last-16.

New boss Luis Enrique raised eyebrows at his unveiling last summer when he declared that he would not become obsessed with winning the trophy.

Their passage to the knockout stages of this season's competition was in doubt for about 15 minutes last Wednesday when they were in the Europa League berth while Newcastle United led AC Milan and they trailed Dortmund by a goal.

In the end, Milan won 2-1 and PSG levelled against Dortmund.

Elsewhere in the draw which was made in the Swiss city of Nyon, RB Leipzig were picked out of the pot to pit their wits against the 14-time winners Real Madrid.

In other clashes Lazio play Bayern Munich and Dortmund will travel to PSV Eindhoven for the first leg of the tie which will be on 13/14 February or 20/21 February.

The second legs will be played on 5 and 6 March and 12 and 13 March.

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