London: European champions AC Milan will face English Premier League leaders Arsenal in the first knockout round of the Champions League following the draw made at the Uefa headquarters in Nyon on Friday.

It will be the first meeting of the clubs since AC Milan beat Arsenal 2-0 on aggregate in the European Super Cup final in 1994-95, their only other competitive meeting in Europe.

“It really doesn’t get any bigger than this,” Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman told a TV channel.

“I am sure our fans are already trying to buy tickets. We have a big squad, we are still involved in four competitions, and we want to win all four competitions, and we are looking forward to this very much.”

AC Milan director Umberto Gandini told the club website (www.acmilan.com): “We have seen better draws in the past. We have drawn the most difficult team. The percentages of getting an English team were very high. You could say it was Milan against England given Inter’s draw too.

Another Anglo-Italian confrontation sees Liverpool, beaten in last year’s final by Milan, drawn to face Italian League leaders Inter Milan.

The first legs of both matches will be in England.

Manchester United face French League leaders Olympique Lyon with the second leg in Manchester.

Barcelona, who faced Rangers in the group stage and drew 0-0 at Ibrox in a group E match in October, return to Glasgow to face Celtic for their third tie in the last five seasons.

The draw

Celtic vs Barcelona; Olympique Lyon vs Manchester United; Schalke 04 vs Porto; Liverpool vs Inter Milan; AS Roma vs Real Madrid; Arsenal vs AC Milan; Olympiakos Piraeus vs Chelsea; Fenerbahce vs Sevilla.

(Reuters)