Manchester Metropolis will face Actual Madrid in a blockbuster Champions League play-off with Celtic taking up Bayern Munich in a bid to achieve the final 16.
Having crushed Membership Brugge 3-1 of their remaining league-phase sport to scrape by to the subsequent spherical, Pep Guardiola’s facet should go up towards the 15-time European champions within the glamour tie of the play-off spherical.
Metropolis’s draw towards Madrid implies that Celtic will go up towards Bayern Munich, now managed by former Metropolis captain Vincent Kompany.
The draw units up the fifth two-legged tie between Metropolis and Madrid within the final six seasons. Final 12 months Madrid ended Metropolis’s hopes of retaining the Champions League as they received in a penalty shoot-out on the Etihad within the quarter-finals.
The 12 months earlier than, Metropolis beat Madrid within the semi-finals on their method to finishing a treble, conquering Europe for the primary time within the membership’s historical past.
The winners of the tie will advance to face both Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen within the final 16. The identical applies for Celtic ought to they progress towards Bayern.
Metropolis’s second leg on the Santiago Bernabeu takes place just some days earlier than they host Liverpool within the Premier League, reside on Sky Sports activities.
The primary legs of the knockout play-off spherical happen on February 11-12 with the return legs per week later.
The draw for the final 16 is on February 21, two days after the play-off spherical finishes.
Aston Villa snuck into the highest eight by the pores and skin of their enamel after Atalanta did not beat Barcelona and dropped into the play-offs, which means Unai Emery’s facet will face one among Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting or Membership Brugge within the final 16.
Liverpool high the general desk and can now face one among Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Monaco or Brest.
Arsenal might face AC Milan, PSV, Feyenoord or Juventus as their attainable last-16 opponents.
Confirmed knockout section play-offs
- Membership Brugge (BEL) vs Atalanta (ITA)
- Sporting CP (POR) vs Borussia Dortmund (GER)
- Manchester Metropolis (ENG) vs Actual Madrid (ESP)
- Celtic (SCO) vs Bayern München (GER)
- Juventus (ITA) vs PSV (NED)
- Feyenoord (NED) vs Milan (ITA)
- Brest (FRA) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
- Monaco (FRA) vs Benfica (POR)
Draw format defined
Groups ending between ninth and sixteenth within the league will probably be seeded for the play-off spherical.
They may face an unseeded workforce that completed between seventeenth and twenty fourth within the desk – with the seeded workforce additionally having the advantage of taking part in the second leg at dwelling.
Sides may even be paired collectively within the draw, which means that the 2 sides who completed ninth and tenth will probably be drawn towards both the twenty third or twenty fourth positioned sides.
Groups who completed eleventh and twelfth will probably be drawn towards both the twenty first or Twenty second-placed sides, and so forth.
The eight winners from the play-offs will meet the groups who completed within the high eight from the preliminary league section within the last-16, the place the acquainted theme of knockout rounds will run all the best way to the ultimate.
Who will British groups play within the subsequent spherical – and who might they face within the final 16?
Liverpool (Ranked No 1)
Spherical of 16: One of many winners of PSG vs Brest or Monaco vs Benfica.
Arsenal (Ranked No 3)
Spherical of 16: One of many winners of Feyenoord vs AC Milan or Juventus vs PSV.
Aston Villa (Ranked No 8)
Spherical of 16: One of many winners of Membership Brugge vs Atalanta or Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund.
Celtic (Ranked No 21)
Knockout playoffs: vs Bayern Munich (eleventh)
Spherical of 16: vs Atletico Madrid (fifth) or Bayer Leverkusen (sixth).
Manchester Metropolis (Ranked No 22)
Knockout playoffs: Actual Madrid (twelfth).
Spherical of 16: vs Atletico Madrid (fifth) or Bayer Leverkusen (sixth).
When are the 2024/25 Champions League knockout fixtures?
- Spherical of 16: March 4/5 and March 11/12, 2025
- Quarter-finals: April 8/9 and April 15/16, 2025
- Semi-finals: April 29/30 and Might 6/7, 2025
- Remaining: Might 31, 2025
