IT’S THAT TIME of the year again. The remaining 16 teams in this year’s Champions League discover who they will meet in the knockout stages this morning as the draw takes places in Nyon, Switzerland.
Proceedings are due to kick off at 10.30am so when we’ll be along with all the news from UEFA headquarters.
As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on the games. E-mail ben@thescore.ie, tweet @thescore_ie, post a message to our Facebook wall, or leave a comment below.
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- Galatasaray v Schalke
- Celtic v Juventus
- Arsenal v Bayern Munich
- Shakhtar Donetsk v Borussia Dortmund
- AC Milan v Barcelona
- Real Madrid v Manchester United
- Valencia v Paris Saint-Germain
- Porto v Malaga
First legs to be played 12/13 & 19/20 February. Second legs to be played 5/6 & 12/13 March
Good morning. European football has got one final bit of business before Christmas arrives as we find out the pairings for the Champions League round of 16. Manchester United, Arsenal and SPL champions Celtic are all among the remaining teams, as are regulars such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and AC Milan.
We are guaranteed a new champion at Wembley Stadium come May 25 of next year as Chelsea became the first holders to fail to progress from the group stages this month.
The two pots look like this:
Seeded: PSG, Schalke, Malaga, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester United.
Unseeded: Porto, Arsenal, Milan, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Valencia, Celtic, Galatasaray.
Not that it makes a difference, but the rehearsal draw brought up some tasty pairings yesterday. Can we get the same again, please?
Credit: 101GreatGoals
We’ve all been here before but for those few who are still wondering how the draw will work, listen up. After what is generally a long and tediously drawn-out introduction from an multilingual presenter such as Pedro Pinto, UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino has his say before showing various video montages of the teams involved and bringing some legendary former players on stage.
When we eventually get all that out of the way, the team names go into two pots according to whether they finished as group winners (seeded) or runners-up (unseeded). They are then pulled out in pairs to make up the fixtures. However, teams from the same league i.e. Juventus and AC Milan cannot be drawn together, and the same can be said about sides who have already faced each other in this year’s group stages.
That make sense?
You can read a full preview of the draw here
A tweet from the Hoops boss this morning. Hadn’t realised Saint Nick was making an appearance…
The room is filling up nicely so we’re just about get underway by the looks of things.
That famous theme tune plays as Mr Infantino emerges. After welcoming the guests, he passes on his regards to Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova, who will undergo six weeks of treatment after suffering a cancer relapse. Nice touch.
This year’s ambassador for the final, Steve McManaman. “He can really teach all of us about the spirit of the competition”, according to Infantino.
Video montage numero uno. Short clips from each of the teams left in the competition, including Tony Watt’s strike against Barcelona and Jose Mourinho sliding on his knees.
You can watch a stream of the draw on UEFA’s site here if you’re interested.
And here comes Macca, the first English player to win the competition with a non-English club, we’re told. The former Real Madrid and Liverpool winger hasn’t quite managed to hold onto his boyish looks but his hair still looks great!
Now we’re being told how the draw will go by a fellow whose name I didn’t catch. For more, see my comment at 10.08.
Phew, thank God that’s out of the way. Let’s go…
Galatasary first out of the draw… and they will face *drumroll* Schalke.
That’s Galatasaray v Schalke.
Celtic will play… JUVENTUS. Same as the rehearsal. Great draw!
Next up, Arsenal. And they will face… Bayern Munich.
That’s Celtic v Juventus and Arsenal v Bayern Munich.
Shakhtar Donetsk are paired with Borussia Dortmund.
AC Milan then get four-times winners Barcelona.
Real Madrid next out. They can get PSG or Manchester United.
And it’s United! Fergie v Mourinho, Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford etc.
Valencia will play new boys Paris Saint-Germain and Porto v Malaga concludes the draw. I enjoyed that.
This is how it looks for real then:
So, although I advised you all to pay little attention to yesterday’s rehearsal draw, incredibly, all eight fixtures are identical. Mad.
At a glance down the list, there really are some big ties in there. Manchester United meeting La Liga champions Real Madrid jumps out immediately but many Celtic fans will be relishing their meeting with the Old Lady of Turin too. Arsenal will have to upset the odds to progress past Bayern Munich, who are flying this season, while AC Milan v Barcelona brings back great memories of past meetings such as the 1994 European Cup final.
As a Celtic fan I don’t believe we should fear anyone, we came within a last minute goal in Barça of actually beating them on aggregate over the 2 games. Has been a rollercoaster ride and anything from here on in is a bonus. The Bhoys can play with no fear now as they have already over achieved.
Hail hail Paul.
We’re the famous glasgow Celtic and we’re off to Wembley
Exact same draw as Rehearsal..
What’s that all about…?
The odds on that are astounding. 2,021,025:1 (15x13x11x9x7x5x3:1) if I’m not mistaken. That’s assuming that the order of the “first team” out for each draw didn’t matter only the second team pair with it.
great draw for Celtic. Mon the hoops
As a utd fan, I have a feeling its gonna be us v Real.
told ye so…
Hang on, this is the same as the rehearsal draw?????
Yeah tat struck me as odd , i wonder statistically what are the chances of the exact same draw happening two days in row from that many teams ??????
So they practiced the Draw yesterday and got it right today? Seriously freaky that the rehearsal is the same?.
i really should read the captions under pictures… i just text my friends saying Celtic v Juve. What was the point in a rehearsal draw??
omg u told the future :-P
he’s a witch burn him!!!!!
Interesting that 2 of Madrid, Barça, Man Utd and Milan won’t be in the 1/4 final draw….
‘Mon the Hoops, hope we get United!
United and Real was a tie that gave us one of the greatest games of football I have ever witnessed 11 years ago. I’m absolutley delighted!
Milan vs Barca is also another mouth watering prospect.
There seems to be some mistake though, I can’t see Chelsea anywhere…
they didnt meet 11 years ago, 2003 was the last time.. you’re just putting words together there, “mouth watering prospect” that’s tv language on sky you dont say that down the pub everyone would look at ya strange
My mistake Barry. My sincerest apologies. But while we’re chatting, perhaps I could give you some feedback. Did you know that generally in written English that capital letters are used at the start of a sentence? You may type them using your shift key.
Anyway try and cheer up, its nearly Christmas and it looks like we’re going to have a smashing round of 16!!!
Celtic v Man U would be a great game
Can 2 British teams draw each other?
Not until the 1/4 finals and onwards. Bloody typical, United win their group and get Madrid. Bring it on though. Ferguson should be checking out their league matches. Real have been pretty sketchy this season.
2 British teams could have drawn each other but 2 English couldn’t
But Celtic could not have been drawn with Arsenal
@ Aiden – only because both finished 2nd in their groups
5000/1 to be the same as yesterday!! Mad!
Hail Hail Celtic
Arsenal always seem to get screwed in the last 16 draw.
Might have made it easier for themselves if they won their group
That’s what I meant, sorry. Not a supporter.
on the other side of the coin.. maybe teams get lucky and draw arsenal every year
Why no coverage of the Europa league draw?
Porto v Malaga and Galatasary v Shalke, there will be two beatable teams in the quarters at any rate.
Porto has beaten PSG, Malaga has beaten Milan, Galatasaray has beaten ManU, and Schalke has beaten Arsenal at group stage. Therefore, PSG, Milan, ManU and Arsenal are also beatable, if there is such a criteria.
Man U could not get Milan because Barca and Madrid cant face each other…
Were PSG and Milan in same group earlier??
PSG and Milan in different groups. Porto and PSG were in the same group
United and PSG were still in the pot..!!! AC Milan finished 2nd in there group + could have been drawin against either of the 3 teams United,PSG and Barcalona..!!!
I am still trying to get an answer to that. No one seems to be able to figure it out.
It was to do with the fact that all the spanish teams were still left in the pot and although Milan were eligible to play other teams should that have happened Barca would have ended up with only Spanish options which isn’t allowed….. I think
Something to do with Barça, Madrid, Valencia & Malaga being unable to play each other as all Spanish and all still in the draw at that stage. The chances of the rehearsal being the same as the real draw were actually greater than you think when you take into account the fact same country teams can’t play each other and teams from the same group can’t either until the 1/4 finals.
Spot on Kev
Cheers Kevin.Hadnt spotted that..! Just seemed very odd then the guy doin the draw just said Barcalona were the only team they could play..! Didnt get explained to well at the time..! was kinda just dropped in..!
Can someone please explain how AC Milan could only play Barcalona..!!!???
Because one wasn’t seeded through other was…one won their group the others didn’t….ones Spanish the other Italian?
United and PSG were still in the pot..!!! AC Milan finished 2nd in there group + could have been drawin against either of the 3 teams United,PSG and Barcalona..!!!
luck of the draw i suppose