Tough ties for England’s most successful Champions League sides
Manchester United have been drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool against Bayern Munich for the next round of the Champions League, in two of the toughest fixtures that will be played.
Having topped their groups, Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, PSG, Porto, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Juventus and were all guaranteed to play the second leg away from home.
The group runners-up going into the draw were Atletico Madrid, Spurs, Liverpool, Schalke, Ajax, Lyon, Roma and Manchester United.
In the first tie to come out, Manchester City were drawn away to Schalke; on the surface the easiest draw for the English sides.
Next up was a cracker of a tie between Atletico Madrid and Juventus, which will see two recent finalists face off.
Tottenham Hotspur also face a tough tie as they host the in-form Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund.
The other fixtures are Lyon v Barcelona, AS Roma v FC Porto and Ajax v Real Madrid.
Drawing Thomas Tuchel’s dominant Ligue 1 leaders will come as a blow to Jose Mourinho, whose Manchester United side currently sit 19 points off Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Defeat against PSG, though by no means guaranteed, would no doubt increase pressure on Mourinho, whose position is already under serious scrutiny after the club’s worse beginning to a Premier League season in history.
The side that consigned them to that record on Sunday, Liverpool, will know that while their tie against German champions Bayern Munich is a true challenge, the Bavarians are a shadow of the side they have been in recent years, and currently trail leaders Dortmund by nine points in the Bundesliga.
Here is the #UCLDraw in full. What tie are you most looking forward to? And which English team do you think will go furthest this year? pic.twitter.com/zgaD4qzI5S
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 17, 2018
