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Titleholder Barcelona will play Arsenal in the quarterfinal stage of the UEFA Champions League and remains on course for a repeat of last year’s final against Manchester United after the draw was held on Friday.

United will travel to Bayern Munich for the first leg of its quarterfinal in a rematch of the 1999 European Cup final, where the English Premier League side snatched two goals at the death for an extraordinary 2-1 win.

“This is a very difficult but also attractive draw,” Bayern’s general director, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, told the German club’s Web site.

The winner will face Olympique Lyon ­— the team that knocked out Real Madrid in the previous round — or Girondins Bordeaux at the semifinal stage after the two French clubs were pitted together in the last eight during the draw made at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

Inter Milan’s reward for eliminating Chelsea is a quarterfinal match against CSKA Moscow, with either Barcelona or Arsenal waiting if it gets past that hurdle.

Barcelona’s match against Arsenal is a repeat of the 2006 final which the Spanish club won 2-1 in Paris. The North London side will host the first leg at Emirates Stadium.

The meeting between Arsenal and Barcelona will feature the return of Thierry Henry to London, where the French forward spent eight seasons, scoring a club record 174 league goals.

The quarterfinal first-leg ties will be played on March 30 and 31, with the return games on April 6 and 7.

The semifinals are set for April 20-21 and 27-28.

The final will be played at Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium on May 22. 

Reuters, AP