كتب : Omar Shoeb
"It is a great draw for us, and very special for me personally because of the happy years I spent at Barcelona,” UEFA official website quoted Koeman as saying on Friday.
"I've already received phone calls from the many friends that I left there and that's nice. Barcelona have a history of success and have a very good team," he added.
The Portuguese and Spanish champions, will play their first-leg on March 28th, and the second-leg on April fifth.
Benfica general manager Jose Veiga expressed his fear from the highly-anticipated match and said that it would be an important and difficult encounter.
"Barcelona are one of the greatest European teams, if not the greatest. However, with just eight teams left in the competition we cannot afford to pick our opponents.
"It will be very difficult but sometimes things aren't as hard as they seem. I believe we can go through to the semi-finals because we have a great side," Veiga said.
On the other hand, Barcelona goalkeeper Víctor Valdes praised Benfica’s performance in the UEFA Champions League and said that they will be tough competition.
"They are a proper team and they will not be easy opponents. They had a tough tie in the last round, but didn't concede a goal against Liverpool [FC] and won well at Anfield.
They deserve as much respect as we do. It will be a passionate tie. You can't say they aren't a big team and they must be good because they are in the quarter-finals," Valdes added.