UEFA Champions League Round: Manchester City vs Real Madrid, a tie that has given some iconic results in the past few years will write a new chapter as the two teams headlined the UEFA Champions League Round of 32 draw, which is announced on Friday.
Defending champions Real Madrid, who finished the league stage in 11th place, will be travelling to the Etihad in the first leg before hosting City, who scraped through to the next round in their final league game with a win over Club Brugge, at the Santiago Bernabeu.
This is the first Champions League season under the new league phase format. The top eight overall advanced directly to the round of 16; sides finishing from ninth to 24th will contest the knockout phase play-offs, with the victors going through to the last 16.
Potential opponents were also pre-defined by pairings of teams’ final league positions. For example, teams finishing ninth and tenth are facing the sides that ended 23rd or 24th; teams finishing 11th or 12th were drawn against either the 21st or 22nd-placed sides and so on. The seeded team will, in principle, play the return leg at home.
It will be an all-French tie between Stade Brestois 29, who are making their first-ever appearance at the competition, and heavyweights Paris Saint Germain.
It will also be a two-way clash between Dutch and Italian teams, as Juventus has been drawn to face PSV Eindhoven and AC Milan will be taking on Feyenoord.
FC Bayern Munich, who could have been drawn to face Man City, will be breathing a sigh of relief having been drawn to face the only Scottish side in the tournament in Celtic.
Arsenal, Aston Villa, Atleti, Barcelona, Inter, Leverkusen, Lille and Liverpool are the eight teams to have secured qualification to the Round of 16 directly.
The first leg of the Round of 32 will take place on February 11 and 12 with the return leg scheduled for February 18 and 19.
Round of 32 fixtures:
Club Brugge vs Atalanta
Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund
Manchester City vs Real Madrid
Celtic vs FC Bayern Munich
Juventus vs PSV
Feyenoord vs AC Milan
Brest vs Paris Saint Germain
Feyenoord vs AC Milan
Article Source: IANS
