December 14 – Barcelona will face Paris St Germain in a mouth-watering heavyweight clash of the Champions League round of 16 while title holders Bayern Munich are up against Italy’s Lazio following today’s draw.
The Barca-PSG showdown is a rematch of their classic encounter at the same stage four seasons ago and features PSG’s Neymar against his former club.
In 2017, PSG threw away a 4-0 first-leg lead by losing 6-1 at Camp Nou in the second leg when Barcelona scored three goals right at the death.
Barcelona will host the first leg this time since PSG, last season’s beaten finalists, are the seeded team.
“We know them (PSG) well, they’ve got some exceptional players. Paris want to fight for the Champions League, last year they came very close to winning it and they want to go one better this time round, but we’ve got something to say about that,” said Guillermo Amor, Barcelona’s Director of Institutional Relations.
Bayern on paper should prove too strong for Lazio who are returning to the knockout stage for the first time in 20 years. Atalanta will host 13-time champion Real Madrid while Liverpool take on last season’s semi-finalists RB Leipzig and features an intriguing match-up between German coaches Jurgen Klopp and Julian Nagelsmann.
Manchester City, still trying to win Europe’s elite club competition for the first time, can have few complaints after another favourable draw, this time against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the lowest-ranked team left at No. 53 in UEFA’s rankings.
In the Europa League’s last 32, Manchester United’s clash with surprise Spanish league leaders Real Sociedad is arguably the tie of the round.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side finished third in their Champions League group and dropped into the second tier competition after last week’s defeat by Leipzig in the final group games.
Champions League last-16 draw
Borussia Monchengladbach v Manchester City
Lazio v Bayern Munich
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
RB Leipzig v Liverpool
Porto v Juventus
Barcelona v Paris St-Germain
Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund
Atalanta v Real Madrid
Europa League last-32 draw
Wolfsberger v Tottenham
Dynamo Kyiv v Club Brugge
Real Sociedad v Manchester United
Benfica v Arsenal
Red Star Belgrade v AC Milan
Royal Antwerp v Rangers
Slavia Prague v Leicester
RB Salzburg v Villarreal
Braga v Roma
Krasnodar v Dinamo Zagreb
Young Boys v Bayer Leverkusen
Molde v Hoffenheim
Granada v Napoli
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Shakhtar Donetsk
Lille v Ajax
Olympiakos v PSV Eindhoven
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