Follow live coverage of the Champions League last-16 draw today.
Reigning European champions Liverpool will be one of sixteen teams in the hat after they topped Group E after beating RB Salzburg in their final game last week. Premier League champions Manchester City are also one of the top seeds after they secured one of the top spots too. It’ll be a more fraught road for 2019 finalists Tottenham Hotspur with two defeats Bayern Munich condemning to second place. They’re joined by Chelsea who saw Valencia beat them to top spot in Group H.
Heavyweights Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and more join them in what should be a star-studded line-up of fixtures in the first knockout stage. We’ll have all the latest updates for you right here:
Who would you like to see paired together? Atalanta vs Leizpig would be fun, two ambitious teams who play good football. Seeing Jadon Sancho in England would be fun, perhaps against Liverpool?
And the unseeded sides:
- Atalanta (ITA: Group C)
- Atlético (ESP: Group D)
- Chelsea (ENG: Group H)
- Dortmund (GER: Group F)
- Lyon (FRA: Group G)
- Napoli (ITA: Group E)
- Real Madrid (ESP: Group A)
- Tottenham Hotspur (ENG: Group B)
A reminder of the seeded clubs in this draw:
- Barcelona (ESP: Group F)
- Bayern München (GER: Group B)
- Juventus (ITA: Group D)
- Leipzig (GER: Group G)
- Liverpool (ENG, holders: Group E)
- Manchester City (ENG: Group C)
- Paris Saint-Germain (FRA: Group A)
- Valencia (ESP: Group H)
Here’s Liverpool following that extraordinary win over Barcelona back in April. Still not entirely sure why this lot are not favourites. The one place you would not want to go in this round-of-16 draw is surely Anfield.
Here’s Jose Mourinho on the Champions League draw. He tends to be at his best when his side is an underdog, and Tottenham are certainly that right now.
A reminder that the Europa League draw will follow the Champions League draw, which kicks off in half an hour. Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolves all find themselves in the mix of 32 teams, but it also features some dangerous opponents like Inter Milan and Ajax. There is bound to be a couple of belting ties in there, you would think.
Aprospos nothing, here’s Lionel Messi bopping his head to a drum beat…
Here’s the fantasy team of the group stage – not a shabby front three.
So who is going to win the Champions League, 2019-20 edition?
The bookies have Manchester City as favourites, which seems odd to me giving where the reigning European champions Liverpool are in the Premier League right now. Liverpool are second with Barcelona and PSG are close behind, and Bayern Munich are installed as fifth favourites. What’s intriguing this year is that there isn’t really an outstanding team beyond Liverpool, which every big gun showing some fallibility.
When we finally know the fixtures in an hour or so’s time it’ll be worth knowing when they’re going to be.
Well, they will begin on 18-19 February and 25-26 February, with the second legs concluding the ties on 10-11 March and 17-18 March.
For the lucky few who will progress you can also plan for the quarter-final draw, which is set for 20 March.
Reigning champions Liverpool, who beat Spurs in last season’s final, will be hoping to avoid a horror draw.
They could be paired with either Real Madrid or city rivals Atletico, with Borussia Dortmund, Lyon or Atalanta their other possible opponents.
Four of those five teams could also be waiting for City, with Napoli a possible opponent instead of Atalanta, who they met in the group stage.
Chelsea look set to get a tough draw as they could face Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG or Leipzig.
Liverpool and City as group winners get a second leg at home, while Spurs and Chelsea will be away.
Jose Mourinho believes Tottenham will be a team to avoid in the Champions League knockout stages.
Spurs finished second in Group B, meaning they can be drawn against one of Barcelona, Paris St Germain, Juventus, Valencia or RB Leipzig.
Mourinho reckons those five teams will be hoping to avoid his side.
“We have five options,” he said. “We don’t have much to choose.
“Basically every team has five or six options in the draw, the teams that finish first they have better luck than to get Tottenham.
“They have better options than Tottenham, so every team that finished first and has better options than Tottenham, if they get Tottenham in the draw I think they will be very happy to play in our stadium but they know we have a good team.”
Just to give you a heads up on proceedings today.
The ceremony is set to get underway at 11am GMT in the 100% fictional Uefa town of Nyon in Switzerland/Narnia.
Expect big names on hand to pull those all important balls out as well as a montage or seven.
And these are the unseeded sides, where there are a couple of teams you definitely do not want to draw.
- Atalanta (ITA: Group C)
- Atlético (ESP: Group D)
- Chelsea (ENG: Group H)
- Dortmund (GER: Group F)
- Lyon (FRA: Group G)
- Napoli (ITA: Group E)
- Real Madrid (ESP: Group A)
- Tottenham Hotspur (ENG: Group B)
Right then, let’s take a closer look at the top seeds, those privileged few who topped their group and will now, in theory, have an easier route to Istanbul.
- Barcelona (ESP: Group F)
- Bayern München (GER: Group B)
- Juventus (ITA: Group D)
- Leipzig (GER: Group G)
- Liverpool (ENG, holders: Group E)
- Manchester City (ENG: Group C)
- Paris Saint-Germain (FRA: Group A)
- Valencia (ESP: Group H)
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Champions League last-16 draw today.
Reigning European champions Liverpool will be one of sixteen teams in the hat after they topped Group E after beating RB Salzburg in their final game last week.
Premier League champions Manchester City are also one of the top seeds after they secured one of the top spots too.
It’ll be a more fraught road for 2019 finalists Tottenham Hotspur with two defeats Bayern Munich condemning to second place.
They’re joined by Chelsea who saw Valencia beat them to top spot in Group H.
Heavyweights Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and more join them in what should be a star-studded line-up of fixtures in the first knockout stage.
We’ll have all the latest updates for you right here:
The draw takes place at 11am GMT in Nyon.
The top seeded sides are:
Barcelona (ESP: Group F), Bayern München (GER: Group B), Juventus (ITA: Group D), Leipzig (GER: Group G), Liverpool (ENG, holders: Group E), Manchester City (ENG: Group C), Paris Saint-Germain (FRA: Group A), Valencia (ESP: Group H).
The unseeded teams are:
Atalanta (ITA: Group C), Atlético (ESP: Group D), Chelsea (ENG: Group H), Dortmund (GER: Group F), Lyon (FRA: Group G), Napoli (ITA: Group E), Real Madrid (ESP: Group A), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG: Group B)
The last 16 fixtures begin on 18-19 February and 25-26 February, with the second legs concluding the ties on 10-11 March and 17-18 March.
