Liverpool will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League while Friday’s draw also threw up a showdown between reigning champions Real Madrid and their city rivals Atletico.
Arne Slot’s Liverpool finished first in the 36-team league phase of the competition to qualify directly for this stage, while PSG finished 15th and had to come through a two-legged play-off tie in which they crushed fellow French side Brest 10-0 on aggregate.
The first leg will take place at the Parc des Princes in Paris on March 4 or 5, with the return at Anfield a week later.
The clubs last met in the Champions League in the group stage in 2018/19, when PSG won 2-1 at home after Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in England.
The only previous knockout tie between the sides came in the semi-finals of the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1997, when PSG won 3-2 on aggregate before losing the final to Barcelona.
Liverpool are currently eight points clear of Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League having played a game more than their closest rivals, while Luis Enrique’s PSG are unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season and sit 10 points clear at the summit.
With the draw being made up to and including the semi-finals, PSG and Liverpool know the winner of their tie will face either Club Brugge or Aston Villa in the last eight.
That raises the possibility of an all-English quarter-final between the teams who succeeded each other as European Cup winners in the early 1980s.
Villa will face Club Brugge seeking revenge for their 1-0 defeat against the same opponents in Belgium in the league phase in November.
Real, fresh from eliminating Manchester City in the play-offs, will be at home in the first leg against Atletico.
The rivals from the Spanish capital met in the competition in four straight seasons in the last decade, with Real coming out on top every time.
They won the finals of 2014 and 2016, as well as in the quarter-finals in 2015 and in the semi-finals in 2017.
“It’s an amazing tie, and we are ready for it,” insisted Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who was in charge for all of the past Champions League meetings between the sides.
The winners of that tie will progress to a last-eight clash against either PSV Eindhoven or Arsenal.
The Gunners, who came third in the league phase, will be coming up against a club they faced in the group stage of last season’s Champions League — Mikel Arteta’s team won 4-0 at home before drawing 1-1 in the Netherlands.
Another standout tie will see Bayern Munich, the current Bundesliga leaders, take on reigning German champions Bayer Leverkusen.
Leverkusen, coached by former Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso, are unbeaten in the last six meetings of the clubs, including a 1-0 win in the German Cup earlier this season. The teams have never previously met in a European tie.
Feyenoord, the 1970 European Cup winners, will play Italian champions Inter Milan, their reward for knocking out AC Milan in the play-offs. The winners of that tie will face Bayern or Leverkusen in the last eight.
It is the first time two Dutch clubs have been in the last 16 since 2005/06.
Current La Liga leaders Barcelona will face Benfica, who they defeated 5-4 away in Lisbon last month on their way to finishing second in the league phase.
Last season’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund will take on French side Lille.
The semi-final draw raises the possibility of last-four showdowns between Liverpool and Arsenal, or between Kylian Mbappe’s Real Madrid and his old club PSG.
Barcelona are on the same side of the draw as Bayern and Leverkusen.
This season’s final takes place in Munich on May 31.
AFP
