A rare occurrence
Fans are confused after Real Madrid were banned from drawing PSV Eindhoven in the last 16 of the Champions League – despite not being in the same group.
The draw for the round of 16 ties were made on Monday and the competition threw up some interesting ties. The full ties can be seen below:
- FC Porto vs Arsenal
- Napoli vs Barcelona
- PSG vs Real Sociedad
- Inter Milan vs Atlético Madrid
- PSV vs Borussia Dortmund
- Lazio vs Bayern Munich
- Copenhagen vs Man City
- RB Leipzig vs Real Madrid
As you can see, PSV drew Borussia Dortmund but when John Terry pulled out their name, a red mark was shown next to Real Madrid’s name, indicating that they couldn’t face each other.
UEFA guidelines however meant that they were unable to face other.
According to the rules, since Bayern Munich were still left to be drawn it meant that had Real Madrid been chosen to play against the Dutch side, Bayern could have been able to draw RB Leipzig or Copenhagen.
Neither of these outcomes could happen though given that Copenhagen were in the same group as the German champions while Leipzig are of course from the same confederation.
Manchester City were also still in the pot, and they could not draw Leipzig as they were in the same group.
Thankfully there was no added complication to the draw and now we can all prepare the knockout stages on: February 13/14, February 20/21, March 5/6 and March 12/13.
Related links:
- Champions League 2024: Round of 16 draw revealed
- Pep Guardiola has told players who next Man City manager will be
- Jamie Carragher reposts Gary Neville tweet immediately after Man United Champions League exit
