Earlyface

Manuel Pellegrini's side
were paired with
Barcelona and Arsene
Wenger's men face
Bayern Munich, but both
clubs will feel the tough last-16 ties were
avoidable.There are major losers in
most Champions League
draws, but not always do
they come from the same
part of the world. And
while one of them sit top of the Premier League this
morning and the other can
boast a 6-3 weekend win
over the same side, both
Arsenal and Manchester City
will be thinking about what might have been after the
last-16 pairings were
unveiled in Nyon on
Monday. Manuel Pellegrini will not be
convinced that Barcelona
respresent the toughest
draw his team could have
been handed, but the
Manchester City boss will still have a huge job on his
hands to ensure that
they're back in Nyon for the
quarter-final draw in March. The Catalan giants are not
the frightening proposition
they were three seasons
ago, with their suspect
defence being highlighted
widely as the way in for opponents looking for an
opening, but they remain a
tough prospect for a City
side playing in the
knockout stages of the
Champions League for the first time ever. Having come within one
goal of toppling Bayern
Munich to win Group D, the
Citizens may be left kicking
themselves for their
inability to ensure an easier path. The visit of Lionel
Messi, Neymar et al will
represent the Etihad
Stadium's greatest ever
occasion to date, but will
also be the biggest test of what this City side is capable
of. Arsenal, meanwhile, got the
toughest draw of the lot,
with Bayern set to visit the
Emirates Stadium just as
they did in 2012-13. Arsene Wenger will tell his
side that last season's
second-leg win in Munich
proves that they have the
measure of the European
champions. He'll also point to FC Hollywood's loss to
Manchester City last week
as further evidence that Pep
Guardiola's men can be
overturned. But in reality,
he would have rather seen any other name come out
alongside that of the
Gunners. Like City, the Premier
League leaders could have
won their group. In fact,
they should have won it.
Group F may well have been
this season's 'Group of Death', but having got
themselves into a great
position ahead of matchday
six, they have ultimately
paid the price for not
finishing the job off in Naples.