Real worried over knock-out clash with Bayern

Real Madrid were left stunned and perturbed on Friday when they were drawn to meet eternal continental rivals Bayern Munich in the first knockout stage of the Champions League.

Emilio Butragueno, the Spanish champions' spokesman and former goal-scoring star, could not hide his disappointment afterwards when he said the outstanding clash of the draw was the one tie that Madrid had hoped to avoid.

"It is too soon, much too early for us to meet Bayern Munich," he said. "It is the toughest draw we could have had. We did not want to face them at this stage of the competition. They are always such difficult opponents."

Madrid, as seeded group winners, will play the first leg away -- normally an advantage, but Butragueno was uncertain if it would be any help to his team this time.

"This is another 'gran classico' for us, another very big game and it is not necessarily good for us to be at home in the second leg because we know that Bayern Munich can play well when they come to Spain."

The clash of the two European giants, who have won the European Cup 13 times between them, will be the fourth in five years between the clubs and was welcomed with broad grins by the representatives of most other major clubs harbouring serious ambitions to lift the trophy in Gelsenkirchen next May.

Even Bayern's spokesman, executive director Karl Hopfner, admitted he was relatively pleased because he believed the Bavarians would be in better form, and untroubled by injuries, by the time the teams meet in Munich on February 24 and in Madrid on March 10.

"We have been inconsistent, but we have some time to prepare properly for this game and we know from the past that we should not fear meeting Real Madrid. It is a great match for us and it will be a memorable occasion in both games."

The last time the two clubs met, in the quarter-finals of the 2001-02 season, Madrid won 3-2 on aggregate and went on to lift the trophy in Glasgow, but the previous season, when they met in the semifinals, Bayern triumphed and then won the cup in Milan.

In the 1999-2000 season, Madrid were beaten 4-2 at home and 4-1 away in the group stages, but then beat Munich 3-2 on aggregate in the semifinals on their way to winning the cup, for the eighth time, in Paris.

In their eight most recent meetings in the last four years, Bayern have won six times, but perhaps more significantly the victors of their great contests have gone on to win the European Cup each time.

Defending champions AC Milan, who meet Argentina's Boca Juniors in the World Club Cup final this weekend, were drawn to play Sparta Prague, while Juventus, last season's beaten finalists, meet Deportivo Coruna.

They met last season in the second group stage with a 2-2 draw in Spain and Juve winning 3-2 in Italy.

"It is good for us," said Milan's spokesman Alessandro Spagnolo. "A good draw. We are satisfied. It is a nice place to travel for the team and for the fans."

Manchester United, the 1999 champions, were handed a tricky tie against Portuguese league leaders Porto, but were happy to have avoided a more difficult clash, said football secretary Ken Merrett. "It could have been worse," he said. "This is alright for us."

They last met in 1996-97, United winning 4-0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals.

In another mouth-watering tie, the leaders of the English premier league and the Bundesliga will meet when Chelsea play VfB Stuttgart, who they beat 1-0 in the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1998.

Chelsea's interim chief executive Paul Smith said it was "a very interesting draw for us because they are doing well, riding high and have a young team and play an attacking open game and the fact is an English team against a German team just adds another underlying dimension to it.

"There are echoes of Chelsea in the way they play, they hold the ball very well and distribute it and attack with precision.

"But we don't fear anyone in this draw. We respect everyone, but fear no-one.

"We are glad to have avoided the legendary names like Madrid, Milan and Juventdus, but we will be glad to play them if that happens. For us, it just a case of who's next? Our long- term ambition is to establish Chelsea among the European elite."

Arsenal, the third English club in the last 16, face Celta Vigo while the draw also paired Lokomotiv Moscow with AS Monaco and Real Sociedad with Olympique Lyon.

"None of these games are easy," said Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein.

"All the other teams are hard and want to win. Nothing is easy in this draw, but it is our ambition to prove we are one of the best clubs in Europe - and we have yet to get past the quarter-finals, so we have something to prove."