Champions League draw serves up a Madrid derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PS

Champions League draw serves up a Madrid derby, Bayern vs. Leverkusen and Liverpool-PS

A Madrid derby. A German classic. A rare encounter between Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Champions League intensified with heavyweight matchups following the draw for the round of 16 conducted on Friday.

Defending champion Real Madrid's reward for eliminating the 2023 title holder, Manchester City, is a pair of city derbies against Atletico Madrid—the team they defeated in the finals of 2014 and 2016.

Bayern Munich will face Bayer Leverkusen, the current Bundesliga leader, in a clash against the defending champions, who recently played to a tight 0-0 draw.

Liverpool, having secured the top seed in the draw after finishing first in the 36-team standings last month, faces a challenging task as the Premier League leader is matched against the No. 15 seed, PSG.

Liverpool and PSG have never encountered each other in knockout rounds of the Champions League or the former European Cup. Their previous encounters occurred during the group stage in the 2018-19 season, where they exchanged home victories, culminating in Liverpool claiming its sixth European Cup title.

The first-leg matches are scheduled for March 4-5, with the return fixtures taking place one week later.

Additionally, the draw saw No. 2 seed Barcelona paired with Benfica, a team they recently defeated 5-4 in Lisbon. Arsenal will take on PSV Eindhoven, while Inter Milan faces Feyenoord.

Club Brugge, which secured the final qualification spot for the knockout stage, will meet Aston Villa, a team they previously triumphed over in November. Borussia Dortmund is set to play against Lille.

The matchups between Madrid and German teams were not feasible under the previous Champions League format, which prohibited teams from the same country from facing each other in the round of 16. The new seeded bracket system allows for these derbies and enables teams to meet again after having already played in the league phase of the competition.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Samit gets FIFA clearance to play for Bangladesh

Image
 Samit gets FIFA clearance to play for Bangladesh Samit Som has received FIFA permission to play for the Bangladesh national football team. Samit may make his debut for the Bangladesh team against Singapore on June 10. Samit has received the Canadian Soccer Association's clearance before applying for a Bangladeshi passport. Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Vice President Fahad Karim confirmed the matter on Thursday. Samit Som is scheduled to apply for a passport at the Bangladesh Embassy in Canada in the next two to three days. Fahad Karim said that all efforts are being made to expedite Samit Som's passport and other formalities. After getting the passport, an application will be made to FIFA. The BFF has kept Samit Som in its plans around the Singapore match in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers on June 10.
Read more

Mysterious posts of cricketers not getting a place in the team

Image
Mysterious posts of cricketers not getting a place in the team The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) announced the squad on Friday for the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan. The first ODI of the series will be held in Sharjah on November 6. BCB announced a 15-member team with Nazmul Hossain Shanto as the captain ahead of this series. It was already confirmed that Shakib Al Hasan will not be in the squad. Liton Das could not play the second and final Test of the series against South Africa due to fever. Liton is also not in the team for the Afghanistan series as he has not yet recovered. Earlier, Bangladesh last played ODI in March this year. Taijul Islam, Enamul Haque Bijay and Hasan Mahmood lost their place in the Afghanistan series team from the team that played against Sri Lanka. Among them, Nasum Ahmed has been called up instead of Taijul, Nahid Rana has joined the squad as a new face. Within a few hours of being dropped from the team, the cricketers posted suggestive posts ...
Read more

Argentina's 2025 match schedule, who will they face when?

Image
Argentina's 2025 match schedule, who will they face when? Argentina has been in great form since winning the World Cup. They won the Copa America title in 2024 as well. Messi and Martinez recently surprised in the World Cup qualifiers. Lionel Scaloni's team finished the year at the top of the FIFA rankings. The 2026 World Cup is ahead. The target for the new year is the World Cup qualifiers. Messi is at the top of the table in the CONMEBOL qualifiers. With 25 points from 8 matches, they have won. There are three losses including one draw. Uruguay is second in the table with 5 points less. The Blues will play a total of six matches in 2025. All of the matches are World Cup qualifiers. This time, Messi has a big challenge ahead of him. Although they are ahead in the points table, Argentina's opponents in the new year are strong Brazil and Uruguay. They will have to overcome this difficult path to make themselves known in the next world football tournament. Lionel Messi's...
Read more