Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will face one another in the last 16 of the Champions League as Manchester United were handed a nightmare draw with Paris Saint-Germain.
While United will also have the chance to scout out a potential long-term managerial target in Mauricio Pochettino, their forwards – with 12 Ballons d’Or between them – will reunite once again across two legs.
The Red Devils were initially pulled out of the hat to play Villarreal, though that match-up was not possible because the two clubs were in the same group.
It appeared that United’s ball was not put back into the pot correctly, with many fans complaining that they were then not in contention to play Atletico Madrid. Diego Simeone’s side were then pitted against Bayern Munich.
As it stands, Uefa have no plans to change the draw.
Meanwhile, the three other English clubs, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City, were handed far kinder draws against Salzburg, Lille and Villarreal respectively.
The draw took place on Monday, with the only stipulations that clubs were not able to face teams from the same association or the opponents they faced in the group stages. Seeded teams – those who finished top of their group – were placed into Pot 1 and were drawn against the unseeded teams who had finished as runners-up in the group stages.
The most significant change to this year’s knockout stages, of course, is that the away goals rule has been scrapped – so ties level after two legs will go to extra time regardless of goals scored home and away, with a penalty shootout to follow.
First legs will take place across 15-16 and 22-23 February. The second legs will follow on 8-9 and 15-16 March, with kick-offs at 8pm GMT.
Once the round of 16 has been completed, the draw for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (all of which will be mapped out at once) is scheduled for Friday 18 March.
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- Benfica vs Real Madrid
- Villarreal vs Manchester City
- Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich
- Salzburg vs Liverpool
- Inter Milan vs Ajax
- Sporting CP vs Juventus
- Chelsea vs Lille
- PSG vs Manchester United
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/33r9iQ4
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