NYON (SWITZERLAND), Nov 7: Real Madrid will play Liverpool, again. Bayern Munich will play Paris Saint-Germain, again.
Two rematches of recent Champions League finals were set up Monday by the draw for the Round of 16 as some of Europe’s top heavyweights were paired together.
Madrid beat Liverpool in the 2018 and 2022 finals, to extend its competition record to 14 titles, and Bayern beat PSG in 2020 to become European champion for the sixth time.
The trend even continued one hour later at UEFA headquarters with the first pairing made in the Europa League draw.
Barcelona will face Manchester United, the team it beat in the 2009 and 2011 Champions League finals, in the knockout playoffs of the second-tier competition in February.
For defending champion Madrid, having a difficult path to the title is nothing new. The Spanish team’s remarkable run last season saw it knock out PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool to lift the trophy.
PSG being paired with Bayern meant a blockbuster draw at this stage for French champion as well. PSG’s quest for a first European title was ended in March by Karim Benzema’s stunning late hat trick in the second leg in Madrid.
The tough draw was made possible because PSG finished second behind Benfica in its group after the Portuguese club scored a crucial stoppage-time goal in a 6-1 win last week at Maccabi Haifa.
Benfica was rewarded Monday with a pairing against Club Brugge, the 15th-ranked of the 16 teams in the draw.
The lowest-rated team, AC Milan, will be at home against Tottenham in the first leg in its return to the Champions League knockout rounds after a nine-year gap.
Manchester City was paired with Leipzig, and Chelsea was drawn to face Borussia Dortmund in Premier League vs. Bundesliga clashes.
Napoli, the top scoring team in the group stage, will play Eintracht Frankfurt, and Inter Milan is at home first against Porto.
First-leg games will be played between Feb 14-22. Return games are scheduled for March 7-15.
The unusually long wait of more than three months between the group and knockout stages was caused by the World Cup in Qatar being played in November and December. The congested season meant the six-round group stage started earlier than usual in September and was completed in just nine weeks.
The Europa League format includes a knockout round in February for runners-up in the group stage to meet teams who finished third in the Champions League groups.
Among the former European champions in this draw, Barcelona was paired with Man United, Juventus will face Nantes and Ajax will play knockout-stage newcomer Union Berlin.
PSV Eindhoven, the 1988 European champion is away first against Sevilla, the record six-time winner of the Europa League or its predecessor the UEFA Cup.
First-leg games will be played on Feb 16 and return games are played one week later. The eight playoff winners advance to the round of 16 to meet the eight Europa League group winners, which include Arsenal. (AP)
