UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW: TO ARSENE Wenger, the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League is a fait accompli. The Arsenal manager struggled to suppress the conspiracy theorist in him when he suggested that speculation over what would happen in Nyon at 11am today was pointless. The reason?

“I know who we will get,” Wenger said. “At this level, you need connections.”

The Frenchman has seen it written. Arsenal will be paired with Barcelona.

Perhaps, in imagining the worst, Wenger has ensured that he cannot be disappointed. Arsenal’s other possible opponents, after they failed to advance as group winners, are Real Madrid – which would open a new chapter in Wenger’s feud with Jose Mourinho – Bayern Munich and Schalke. Wenger acknowledged that the Spanish clubs would be more heavily fancied and the German ones tended to be fresher in the spring, in the wake of the Bundesliga’s winter break.

It did not take a mystic to read between the lines and deduce that Wenger considered Barcelona the team to be most feared. But Arsenal’s players would love the opportunity to play the Catalans and avenge the defeat they suffered in the quarter-final last season, and Wenger suggested such a scenario would suit him, too.

“If I say we want Barcelona, you won’t believe me,” he said, with a smile. “I don’t even think about it. I hope we get who I feel we will get.”

Barcelona played beautifully for much of last season’s quarter-final. They were almost untouchable in the first half of the first leg at the Emirates and after the interval scored twice to lead 2-0. Arsenal pegged them back to 2-2 and began the return brightly, scoring through Nicklas Bendtner and going close to a second. Then, Lionel Messi got four.

Barcelona updated those memories for Arsenal two weeks ago, with their 5-0 destruction of Madrid in La Liga, a performance Wenger felt could inspire his players.

“It was some of the best football I’ve ever seen,” Wenger said. “They played outstandingly well for 90 minutes. What was surprising was that they had no weak moment. Their determination and focus for 90 minutes was spot-on and the quality was unbelievable. When you see a performance like that, you are encouraged to get to that level. It is good that teams show you how well you can play football. It was the best performance of the season in European football.

“On a night, anything can happen. You can have a weak game when you are not completely at your best, and Barcelona turn up. It happened to us last season in the first 30 minutes (of the first leg).”

Wenger could not resist a little moan about that encounter, although he did accept the “better team” had won. “If the ref doesn’t give offside (in the second leg) when Bendtner is clean through, because he was not offside, we could have been 2-0 up,” he said.

While Arsenal look ahead with trepidation, north London rivals Tottenham await with relish the outcome of a draw that will be jointly conducted by Bobby Charlton and former Republic of Ireland international Ronnie Whelan.

Not only did Harry Redknapp’s side top a group containing Inter Milan, meaning they will avoid the holders and Arsenal, they did so by becoming the first team to score at least twice in all six matches.

They could encounter Valencia, who had two closely-fought tussles with Manchester United but lack star quality since the departures of David Villa and David Silva, plus Roma and AC Milan.

However, Redknapp is presumably hoping for FC Copenhagen, who have become the first Danish side to reach the knockout stages.

The same will also be true of Manchester United – who like Tottenham could face French duo Marseille and Lyon – and Chelsea.

United and Chelsea’s experience should help, although Inter are not exactly opponents of choice, even if they are struggling to replicate their dominance in Italy under Rafael Benitez.

The former Liverpool chief endured a rocky relationship with Chelsea and there was no meeting of minds with Alex Ferguson either.

For the same reason, Inter against Real Madrid would be a tie to relish, doubtless allowing Mourinho the chance to emphasise how difficult Benitez is finding it to follow in his footsteps at the San Siro.

In the Europa League, Liverpool, Manchester City and Rangers are in the hat for the last 32.