Manchester City and Real Madrid will renew their familiar rivalry after being drawn together in the Champions League knockout phase for the sixth time since 2019-20 following Friday’s draw for the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-finals.
The two heavyweights have already crossed swords once this campaign, with City mounting a comeback to beat record 15-times European champions Real 2-1 in December’s group stage match.
“We played against each other already in the group phase, so it’ll be a really nice game to watch. It’s like a final, we are happy to go there again,” City’s director of football Hugo Viana told UEFA.
Holders Paris Saint-Germain will face Chelsea in a repeat of last year’s ill-tempered Club World Cup final in which the Premier League side came out on top.
“We’ve played them quite a few times. They are the reigning champions but people will probably refer to what happened in the summer at the Club World Cup. It’ll be tough but it holds no fear for us,” Chelsea’s director of football David Barnard said.
Arsenal play Bayer Leverkusen and the Premier League leaders have avoided the tournament’s heavyweights after their perfect record of eight wins put them top of the standings in the league phase.
Should they qualify for the quarter-finals, Arsenal will play either Sporting or Bodo/Glimt while Real Madrid, Manchester City, PSG, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Chelsea are on the other side of the draw.
Bayern Munich, who were second in the group stage, play Atalanta, who knocked out German side Borussia Dortmund in the playoffs thanks to a stoppage-time penalty.
Newcastle United face Barcelona again after the Spanish side won their group stage opener and Liverpool were paired with Galatasaray.
Premier League strugglers Tottenham Hotspur face Atletico Madrid while Norwegian upstarts Bodo/Glimt — who have beaten City, Atletico and Inter Milan this season — take on Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon.
