It was the sixth successive year that Madrid had been dumped out in the first knockout round and they will be hoping for a change in fortunes under Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho became only the third coach to conquer Europe with two different teams after guiding Inter Milan to victory over Bayern Munich in May’s final, which was held at Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium.

Madrid’s own quest for a record 10th title ended when they suffered a 2-1 aggregate defeat to Lyon, but the Spanish giants now have the chance to gain revenge.

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas remains wary though, saying: “Last year everybody thought Real Madrid were favourites to get through and it didn’t happen that way.

“Having had that bad experience we need to be prudent, giving the maximum respect to Lyon.

“It’s a very important game for us, because we want to get past this barrier (last 16), but we need to have respect for a team who seem weaker than us, but who knocked us out last season.”

Madrid are not the only side who have the chance of revenge.

Bayern, who lost 2-0 to Inter in the final, have again been drawn against the Italian outfit, while Arsenal take on 2009 champions Barcelona once more.

Arsenal held Barca 2-2 at home in the first leg of their quarter-final encounter last term, but were then swept aside by Lionel Messi, the Argentinian scoring all four goals in a 4-1 second leg win for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said: “They (Arsenal) are team who always know what to do with the ball.

“They view football in a similar way to Barca and for this I think we will see a great tie. It’s a tie that we would like to play next week.”

Inter, meanwhile, are expecting a backlash against Bayern, with president Massimo Moratti saying: “For them it will be a way to avenge that defeat.”

The three English teams who won their groups had mixed news in today’s draw.

Chelsea will fancy their chances of getting past a FC Copenhagen side who will be on their winter break until March.

FC Copenhagen coach Sol Solbakken, whose side are the first Danish outfit to reach this stage, admitted: “That’s the biggest disadvantage.

“We played Marseille last year (in the Europa League) and we matched them for 60-70 minutes in both games, but then we struggled as we had only played practice games and we struggled to keep up with the tempo.”

Manchester United, meanwhile, have been paired against Marseille, with manager Sir Alex Ferguson saying: “Marseille are a handful at their own ground, their fantastic atmosphere and incredible support guarantees that.

“They’ve had a good change in fortunes in the last two or three years after a dry spell, and I think it’ll be a difficult tie.”

Tottenham gained little reward for finishing above reigning champions Inter in Group A as they were handed a showdown with the Nerazzurri’s city rivals AC Milan.

AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri told www.acmilan.com: “Tottenham are probably a very good team but among the possible rivals we could have faced, they are in theory one of the less difficult sides.

“But all the sides that have made it to the knockout round are nevertheless strong teams.”

The remaining two last-16 ties pit Roma against Shakhtar Donetsk and Valencia against Schalke, for whom former Real Madrid legend Raul will be making a swift return to Spain following his summer move from the Bernabeu.

Shakhtar finished above Arsenal in the group stages and Roma coach Claudio Ranieri said: “It’s going to be a beautiful tie.

“They have won five of their six games and are a team that has great individual talent. They are very fast in counter-attacks and it will be a big test for us.”