PARIS —
Liverpool will have the chance to avenge last season’s Champions League final
defeat at the hands of Real Madrid after Jurgen Klopp’s side were drawn on
Monday to face the holders again in the last 16.
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Meanwhile, the
other standout tie saw Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) drawn to play Bayern Munich in
a repeat of the 2020 final which was won by the German club.
Liverpool won
five of their six group games but missed out on top spot to Napoli after losing
4–1 when the sides met in Italy.
The Anfield club
also lost the 2018 Champions League final to Real, who won their group ahead of
RB Leipzig.
“They are two
historic teams, and the tie is going to be electric, fascinating for the fans,”
said Emilio Butragueno, a great former Real player who is now the director of
institutional relations for the 14-time European champions.
Current domestic
form suggests Real should be favorites, with
Carlo Ancelotti’s side unbeaten in
La Liga while Liverpool are eighth in the Premier League despite winning away
to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
However, both
clubs will lose key players to the World Cup and Butragueno acknowledged much
can change in the three months before the Champions League returns.
“The World Cup
is going to condition the whole season. We will see how the players are when
they return,” he said.
PSG only missed
out on topping their group because Benfica scored more away goals across all
matches after the sides remarkably finished level on points, goal difference,
goals scored and head to head.
That left the
Qatar-owned club exposed to a tough draw, a year on from their painful exit in
the first knockout round at the hands of Real.
In terms of form
they could not have got tougher than Bayern, who were the only side to win all
six group matches, despite being in a section with Barcelona and Inter Milan.
The 2020 final
was played behind closed doors in Lisbon at the height of the pandemic, with
Bayern triumphing 1–0. PSG gained revenge the following season by beating the Bavarians
in the quarterfinals.
Like PSG,
Manchester City have never won the trophy but are also one of the leading
contenders to do so this season.
Pep Guardiola’s
side will be expected to dispose of Leipzig, who they faced in the group stage
a year ago and beat 6–3 at home before a 2–1 defeat in Germany, by which time
they had already secured first place in the section.
Chelsea, who
defeated City in the 2021 Champions League final, also drew German opposition
in the shape of Borussia Dortmund, with the clubs set to meet for the very
first time in a competitive game in the first leg at the Signal Iduna Park.
After topping
their group thanks to a last-gasp winner away to Marseille last week, Tottenham
Hotspur were given a tough draw against Italian champions AC Milan.
They have met at
this stage of the competition before, with Spurs winning 1–0 on aggregate in
2010/11 thanks to a solitary goal at San Siro by Peter Crouch.
Inter will play Porto
and last season’s
Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt take on Napoli,
while Benfica’s reward for winning their group was a tie against tournament
outsiders Club Brugge of Belgium.
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