Champions League: The teams to face off in the round of 16 are known

The 2022-23 Champions League draw of the 16 teams that have qualified for the last 16 has been made. The ceremony began on Monday November 7th at the house of European football at Nyon in Switzerland by UEFA.

Because of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar that will start in late November, the Champions League groupe stage matches were played quickly in order to do the draw before the world competition. Because of that, the famous Club European football anthem will have to wait for four months before it will be heard again. The draw was made just five days after the match day 6 was completed.

Firstly, group leaders face off with another group runner-up. Secondly, teams from the same nationality cannot be paired together in this round of 16 neither will teams of the same group face. Reverse can only be the case starting from the quarter finals.

Champion League round of 16 draw
Red Bull Leipzig (GER) vs Manchester City (ENG)
Club Brugge (BEL) vs SL Benfica (POR)
Liverpool (ENG) vs Real Madrid (ESP)
AC Milan (ITA) vs Tottenham Hotspur (ENG)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER) vs Napoli (ITA)
Borussia Dortmund (GER) vs Chelsea (ENG)
Inter Milan (ITA) vs Porto (POR)
Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) vs Bayern Munich (GER)

This competition that is already at the elimination stage is a two legged match. Group winners play the first leg away before hosting their opponents in the second leg.

The first leg of the last 16 matches are scheduled for the 14/15/21 and 22nd of February. Then the second leg are also scheduled for 7/8/14 and 15th of March of the same year. After the results, only eight will remain for the last four and the draw for that round will be made on Friday March 17th 2023.

A quick reminder that the so-called away goals rule has been canceled. This means that when the ties are leveled even after 180 minutes of both legs, extra time follow even though away team scored more goals. If the additional time cannot still separate the two teams, the tie goes to penalty shoot-out to decide the winner.

Alfred Rasaq AGBADJAME