Manchester City is scheduled to play 15 times. Champions of the European Cup Bayern Munich will play Real Madrid and Celtic in the Champions League playoffs.
On February 11 or 12, City, the 2023 Champions League winners, will host Madrid at Etihad Stadium. The following week, they will fly to Spain for the second leg.
Before the Bundesliga team hosts Brendan Rodgers’ team at Allianz Arena in the second leg, Celtic, the first British team to win the cup in 1967, will play Bayern Munich at Celtic Park.
In the round of 16, the victors of City’s matchup with Madrid and Celtic’s matchup with Bayern will play either Spanish team Atletico Madrid or German team Bayer Leverkusen.
Following the conclusion of the play-off ties, the draw for the round of 16 will take place on February 21. However, certain aspects of that draw are already decided.
Complete Champions League play-off draw
Paris St-Germain vs. Brest
Brugge Club vs. Atalanta
Real Madrid versus Manchester City
PSV Eindhoven versus Juventus
Monaco versus Benfica
Borussia Dortmund versus Sporting
Bayern Munich vs. Celtic
Against AC Milan, Feyenoord
An explanation of the playoff draw
Teams advanced straight to the round of 16 if they placed in the top eight of the 36-team Champions League group standings. The bottom eight teams were eliminated.
The 16 remaining teams that placed between ninth and twenty-fourth advanced to the playoffs.
The teams who placed ninth through sixteenth in the league round were seeded into four pairs for the playoff draw out of those sixteen teams.
Those who placed between 17th and 24th were divided into four pairings that were not seeded.
Because they placed higher in the first phase table, seeded teams hosted the second leg of the play-off, while unseeded teams were paired against one of two seeded teams.
Celtic placed 21st in the league table, while City came in 22nd.
As a result, the two teams would play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, who placed 11th and 12th in the group stage, respectively.
What does it signify for Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Arsenal?
After placing in the top eight of the league phase, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Aston Villa advanced directly to the round of 16.
The eight winners of the play-off ties will be announced on February 21, the day of the draw to finalize the last-16 ties.
Because the top eight teams in the league round were divided into four seeded pairings according to their standing in the table, some aspects of the last-16 draw have already been set.
The winners of the two play-off matches that the teams in the seeded pair have previously been bracketed with will play the teams in the seeded pair.
Liverpool and Barcelona, who finished second in the league phase, are matched together. These teams will face either the side that advances from Monaco’s matchup with Benfica or the victor of the Brest vs. Paris St-Germain match.
Third-place Arsenal is partnered with fourth-place Inter Milan, an Italian team. The winners of Feyenoord vs. AC Milan or Juventus vs. PSV Eindhoven will face the Gunners or Inter.
Eighth-placed Villa and seventh-place Lille will play either Sporting vs. Borussia Dortmund or the winner of Club Brugge vs. Atalanta.
How about the Europa League?
Midtjylland will play Real Sociedad in the play-offs, while AZ Alkmaar will play Galatasaray in the Europa League, which has the same structure as the Champions League.
In the round of 16, the victor of the matches will play either Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United.
Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce has drew with Anderlecht, and Twente will play Bodo/Glimt. The victor of those two matches will then play Rangers.
Rangers finished eighth in the 36-team Europa League group stage, meaning that all three British teams automatically advanced to the round of 16. United and Spurs finished third and fourth, respectively.
Two-time champion Porto will meet 1984 European Cup finalists Roma, and Ferencvaros, a Hungarian team led by former Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, will play Viktoria Plzen.
Either Lazio or Athletic Bilbao will be the opponent for the winners of those two matches.
Following the announcement of the eight winners of the play-off matches, the last-16 draw will take place on February 21st, just like in the Champions League. Teams will know their paths to the final once the brackets are finished.
The last-16 games are set for March 6 and 13, while the two-leg play-off matchups are set for February 13 and 20.
Full Europa League play-off draw between Viktoria Plzen and Ferencvaros
Roma versus Porto
Galatasaray v. AZ Alkmaar
Real Sociedad versus Midtjylland
Ajax against Union Saint-Gilloise
FCSB v. PAOK
Bodo/Glimt v. Twente
Anderlecht v. Fenerbahce.
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