The Champions League took a trip down memory lane on Friday as the draw for the last eight set up rematches of two recent finals and kept Manchester United and Barcelona on course for a May showdown at the Bernabeu. United and Bayern Munich were paired in a repeat of the extraordinary 1999 European Cup final, where the English Premier League side snatched two goals at the death for a 2-1 win.
Meanwhile, holders Barcelona will face Arsenal in a replay of the 2006 final which the Catalans won 2-1. "This will be the most spectacular of all the quarter-finals in terms of football. These are two teams that play open football and the match will be a duel to keep hold of the ball," Barcelona's sporting director Txiki Begiristain told the club website (www.fcbarcelona.cat) The draw, which also included the semi-finals, opened the way for a repeat of last year's Manchester United-Barcelona final as they two teams landed in different halves.
France will be guaranteed a team in the semi-finals for the first time since 2004 after Olympique Lyon - conquerors of Real Madrid in the previous round and Liverpool in the group stage - were pitted against compatriots and domestic champions Girondins Bordeaux. The surviving French team will face either Manchester United or Bayern.
Inter Milan's reward for knocking out Chelsea is a quarter-final against CSKA Moscow, with either Barcelona or Arsenal waiting if Jose Mourinho's South American-inspired team get past that hurdle. Former Inter player Luis Figo said: "You cannot pick and choose at this stage, but logically it's better if you manage to avoid sides like Barcelona and Manchester United."
The draw featured teams from six countries, the first time since 1998/99 so many nations have been represented in the last eight. There was no seeding which meant Barcelona and United could have met in the last eight. Bayern general-director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge was happy the Bavarians, who won the last of their four titles in 2001, had drawn one of the big guns.
"This is a very difficult but also attractive draw," Rummenigge told his club website (www.fcbayern.de). "Manchester are a team that is up there at the very top. We will have to reach our limits and even exceed them if we want to progress. Manchester are the favourites and that is where it is attractive; we can trip up the favourite."
The French clubs agreed that they would rather have been kept apart. In 2004, Monaco knocked out Chelsea before losing 3-0 in the final to Porto. The quarter-final first-leg ties will be played on March 30 and 31. The final will be played at Real Madrid's Bernabeu stadium on May 22.