Manchester City discover UEFA Champions League last-16 play-off opponents following completed draw

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·31 de enero de 2025

Manchester City discover UEFA Champions League last-16 play-off opponents following completed draw

Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players have now discovered their fate in the last-16 play-off round of this season’s UEFA Champions League following Friday morning’s draw.

City are bidding to defy expectations in this season’s tournament having scraped through the league phase via a 22nd-place finish and doing so on the final matchday of the revamped ‘league phase’ round of the competition.

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It was a hugely challenging eight matches for Manchester City, who followed up an opening draw and back-to-back victories with heavy defeats at the hands of Sporting CP and Paris Saint-Germain, a loss at Juventus, and a calamitous 3-3 draw at home to Feyenoord.

Those outcomes meant City were forced to record a victory to secure three points on the final matchday of the league phase as Belgian side Club Brugge visited the Etihad Stadium on a run of 20-matches unbeaten across competitions.

And having fallen behind and trailed at the half-time interval, many were fearing the worst until goals from Mateo Kovacic, Savinho, and an own goal ensured that there would be no ultimate shock for Manchester City in this season’s competition.

The low-lying finish in the league phase format of this season’s UEFA Champions League also means that Manchester City were subjected to a challenging match-up when it came to this week’s draw for the play-off rounds ahead of the last-16.

Upon the conclusion of the league phase fixtures on Wednesday night, it was confirmed that either Celtic or Manchester City would face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich for a place in the official knockout phase of the tournament.

Following wider results and placements in the table, that outcome also now means that should Manchester City progress past either the La Liga or Bundesliga giants, they would face either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the official round of 16.

The eight teams to have qualified automatically for the last-16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League are: Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, LOSC Lille, and Aston Villa.

Now, following the last-16 play-off round draw on Friday morning, it has been confirmed that Manchester City will face Real Madrid across two legs for a place in the last-16, with the first-leg taking place at the Etihad Stadium and second-leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The knockout phase play-offs are due to be played over the course of two weeks, with first-leg ties scheduled for either 11/12 February 2025, and the second-leg meetings due on 18/19 February 2025.

The first-leg will take place after an FA Cup fourth round tie at Leyton Orient and before a visit from Newcastle United in the Premier League, before the second-leg follows preceding Liverpool’s trip to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday 23 February.