Arsenal were drawn with Barcelona, while Spurs were paired with AC Milan in the pick of the ties

Preamble Good morning everyone. The usual bigwigs of European football are arriving for their annual pre-Christmas date in Nyon - surely the only Swiss town that sounds like a Bugatti Veyron going at 140mph - for today's Champions League draw. But, refreshingly, there are couple of upstarts on the list, including Spurs and FC Copenhagen. Proceedings are set to get underway at 11am GMT but in the meantime please feel free to email your thoughts about the draw to the email address above.

10.15am: I've already had several emails suggesting Manchester United will be paired with FC Copenhagen. We'll see. Meanwhile Arsène Wenger believes the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League is a fait accompli - and that his side will get Barcelona. "I know who we will get," Wenger claimed. "At this level, you need connections ... If I say we want Barcelona you won't believe me. I hope we get who I feel we will get." Incidentally you can read more from Wenger in David Hytner's preview here.

Breaking news from Uefa.com

The draws for the Uefa Champions League and Uefa Europa League will go ahead as planned on Friday despite heavy overnight snowfall in the Geneva region ... Heavy snow has forced the closure of Geneva airport, which will prevent some club representatives from attending the draw ceremonies and workshops which take place at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland today ... The programme will, however, go ahead as scheduled.

10.30am:"So we're due to start at 11am," says Gareth Owens. "Any predictions on when the first ball will actually be drawn? Going for about 12.30pm myself." Usually - and, yes, I'm said enough to monitor this - the draw starts between 11.11am and 11.13am, depending on how quickly the Uefa flunkee gets through the autocue.

The mechanics of the draw:

• Teams from the same country can't face each other in the last 16.

• Teams that topped their group will play teams that finished second.

Boiling it down to the nitty-gritty, it means:

Spurs can play: Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, Milan.

Schalke can play: Inter, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, Milan, Arsenal.

Man Utd can play: Inter, Lyon, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, Milan.

Barcelona can play: Inter, Lyon, Roma, Marseille, Milan, Arsenal.

Bayern can play: Inter, Lyon Valencia, Copenhagen, Marseille, Milan, Arsenal.

Chelsea FC can play: Inter, Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Milan.

Real Madrid can play: Inter, Lyon, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, Arsenal.

Shakhtar Donetsk can play: Inter, Lyon, Valencia, Copenhagen, Roma, Marseille, Milan.

Inter can play: Schalke, Man United, Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, Madrid, Shakhtar.

Lyon can play: Spurs, Man Utd, Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, Madrid, Shakhtar.

Valencia can play: Spurs, Schalke, Bayern, Chelsea, Shakhtar.

FC Copenhagen can play: Spurs, Schalke, Man Utd, Bayern, Chelsea, Madrid, Shakhtar.

Roma can play: Spurs, Schalke, Man Utd, Barcelona, Chelsea, Madrid, Shakhtar.

Marseille can play: Spurs, Schalke, Man Utd, Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid, Shakhtar.

Milan can play: Spurs, Schalke, Man Utd, Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, Shakhtar.

Arsenal can play: Schalke, Barcelona, Bayern, Madrid.

Several of you want to know about the results of the practice draw: Alas, word hasn't trickled back from Nyon yet. However in the office my colleagues James Dart and Gregg Roughley have rustled up a quick open draw, which saw the following:

• FC Copenhagen v Bayern

• Schalke v Real Madrid

• Arsenal v Shahktar

• Man Utd v Milan

• Inter v Valencia

• Barcelona v Chelsea

• Tottenham v Roma

• Lyon v Marseille

Call me an old romantic, but I'd like to see an open draw at this stage. Not going to happen, mind ...

10.55am: Not long to go now. Meanwhile Adrian Chorley offers a dose of cynicism: "If the snow has prevented some freeloaders attending, will that not mean the draw may start slightly earlier, as it won't take so long for the free food and booze to get served?" he asks. "And as for 'workshops' - who do they think they're kidding?!" Think Andy Roxborough, for one, would take umbrage with those remarks ...

11am: The stirring strains of the official Champions League anthem give way to Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantino, who ambles on to the stage and says: "So, dear ladies and gentleman, welcome again to the house of European football for the round of 16 draw ..." Goosebumps, anyone?

11.02am: Infantino makes his excuses for Michel Platini, who is at the Club World Cup, and says Spain's World Cup success shows the strength of the European geam. He adds that the "Champions League continues to be the best club football tournament in the world" offering as evidence that it has "provided 276 goals in the group matches."

11.05am: Infantino then praises the "experiment with two official referees" which has provided "better control and vision for the referees". He adds: "We really believe football will benefit from this." So how did the four referees all miss Carlos Vela's stonewall penalty when it was 0-0 in Braga?

11.07am: Video montage time. The haunting sounds of pan-pipes kick things off before goals from each of the teams in the last 16 draw are shown, interlaced with excitable local commentary (yes you, Peter Drury).

11.10am: "Ask Rob Bagchi when he is around if he remembers writing the Champions League draw down on the good old Sportspages blackboard," says David Bronstein. "Those were the days my friend." Indeed they were. It was a wonderful shop and it is sorely missed.

11.11am: A video montage for Bobby Charlton, who was supposed to be conducting today's draw, is played ... only for Uefa to announce that he hasn't been able to make it. Cue embarrassed faces all round.

11.12am: Uefa Competitions Director Giorgio Marchetti arrives in the hall, and starts explaining the rules ...

11.13am: He's still going ...

11.14am: Here we go ... cue an immensely long shuffling of the balls ...

Roma are the first team out and they will play ... FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

The next team out of the glass bowl is AC Milan and they will face Tottenham!

Infantino is getting into his stride now. "And the third team drawn is Valencia Club de Futbol ...". "And they will play FC Schalke 04."

Infantino continues: "Next ... draw ... which is FC Internazionale, three-times winners of the Champions League' ... They have FC Bayern Munich. A repeat of this year's final.

What this now means for Arsenal ... they will play either Real Madrid or Barcelona in the last 16.

Next up it's Olympique Lyon v Real Madrid ... which means Arsenal will definitely play Barcelona, as Arsene Wenger predicted yesterday.

Next out of the bowl is Arsenal ... and they are paired with Barcelona.

Marseille are next out of the bowl ... and they can only play Manchester United.

"And now we will see if we have done everything correctly or if we will have to start again," chuckles Infantino. Luckily he has no need to worry as Copenhagen are drawn with Chelsea.

11.21am: Infantino sends the sparse crowd on its way by telling them: "That concludes the draw for the Champions League. I wish you all a very happy Christmas." So, Arsenal v Barcelona, eh? Arsenal should be kicking themselves: after three group stage matches their record was played three, won three, goals scored 14m goals conceded 2, and they finished second in their group ...

11.25am: JP Meredith has this to say about Arsenal's draw: "At least Arsene can be happy in the knowledge that there is a cushy job in a German aquarium for him on retirement."

11.30am: David Miles, the Arsenal secretary, is giving his reaction to the draw: "Every draw would have been hard but Barcelona are probably the best team in Europe at the moment," he says. "We obviously want to go into the second leg with a couple of goals under our hat." He reckons 2006 could be an omen; Arsenal finished second in their group that year, beat Real Madrid, and reached the final. But Madrid 2006 are not a patch on Barcelona 2010.

11.32am: Darren Eales, Tottenham's director of football administration, is giving his reaction be being paired with Milan. "It's going to be a tough game but we know we have to beat the best to progress in this tournament," he says. "But as we've gone on in the competition we have grown in confidence. When we were 3-0 down to Young Boys after 25 minutes it looked like being a short trip to Europe ... but we fought back and have gone on from there."

11.35am: So to recap on the draw:

AS Roma v Shakhtar Donetsk

AC Milan v Tottenham Hotspur

Valencia v Schalke 04

Inter v Bayern Munich

Olympique Lyon v Real Madrid

Arsenal v Barcelona

Olympique Marseille v Manchester United

FC Copenhagen v Chelsea

* Group stage runners-up are first and will play first legs at home. The first-leg ties will be played on Feb 15/16 and 22/23 with the second legs scheduled for March 8/9 and 15/16.

11.38am: Meanwhile Josh Guiry emails in: "At least by the end of the tournament, Arsenal will be able to say that they were beaten by the Champions. Wenger will probably then put the case forward for Arsenal being the second best team in Europe."

11.40am: Finally, here's Sid Lowe on the Spanish reaction to the draw:

Despite never having beaten Lyon before, Madrid will be happy. Barcelona reasonably pleased with Arsenal. Valencia vs Raul's Schalke

Thanks for all your emails and apologies I couldn't use them all. Best, Sean