Liverpool will have the opportunity to avenge last year’s Champions League final loss to Real Madrid after Jurgen Klopp’s team was drawn against the defending champions in the round of 16.
On the other hand, Paris Saint-Germain was paired with Bayern Munich in a rematch of the 2020 final, which the German team won.
Liverpool won five of their six group games, but missed out on first place due to a 4-1 loss to Napoli in Italy.
Liverpool also lost the 2018 Champions League final to Real Madrid, who won their group over RB Leipzig.
“They are two famous teams, and the match will be electrifying and fascinating for the spectators,” said Emilio Butragueno, the head of institutional relations for the 14-time European winners and a former great Real Madrid player.
Carlo Ancelotti’s team remain undefeated in La Liga, while Liverpool sit seventh in the Premier League despite defeating Tottenham Hotspur on the road on Sunday. This suggests that Real Madrid should be the favorite, given that they have a superior domestic record.
However, both clubs will lose key players to the World Cup, and Butragueno noted that a great deal may alter in the three months before the resumption of the Champions League.
“The World Cup will influence the entire season. We will assess the players’ condition upon their return “he remarked.
The only reason PSG did not finish first in their group was because Benfica scored more away goals in all matches, despite the fact that the two teams finished tied in points, goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head.
A year after their agonizing departure in the first knockout round at the hands of Real, this left the Qatar-owned club exposed to a difficult draw.
Bayern, the only team to win all six group matches despite being in the same section as Barcelona and Inter Milan, was the most formidable opponent in terms of form.
Bayern won 1-0 behind closed doors in Lisbon during the height of the pandemic in the 2020 final. The next season, PSG exacted vengeance on Bayern Munich by defeating them in the quarterfinals.
Manchester City, like Paris Saint-Germain, has never won the trophy but is one of the leading favorites to accomplish so this season.
Pep Guardiola’s squad will be expected to dispatch Leipzig, whom they met in the group stage a year ago and defeated 6-3 at home before losing 2-1 in Germany, by which time they had already claimed first place in the group.
Chelsea, who overcame City in the 2021 Champions League final, also drew Borussia Dortmund, with the clubs set to play for the very first time in a competitive match at the Signal Iduna Park in the first leg.
Last week, Tottenham Hotspur topped their group courtesy to a last-second goal against Marseille, and this week they were paired against Italian champions AC Milan.
Spurs defeated Inter Milan 1-0 on aggregate in 2010/11, with Peter Crouch scoring the lone goal at the San Siro.
Benfica’s reward for winning their group was a match against tournament outsiders Club Brugge of Belgium. Inter will play Porto, while last year’s Europa League champion Eintracht Frankfurt will face Napoli.
All first-leg matches for the round of 16 will take place in February, followed by the second legs in March.
On June 10 of next year, the Champions League final will be place in Istanbul.
The Turkish city was scheduled to host the final in 2020 and 2021, however owing to the epidemic, the event was rescheduled to Portugal each time.
AFP