The UEFA Champions League last 16 draw has been re-drawn after a botched attempt on Monday morning, and has thrown up some cracking ties.
At the second attempt of trying, Manchester United were drawn with Spanish champions Atletico Madrid while Real Madrid will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the tie of the round.
Manchester City will face Sporting CP, while Liverpool take on Inter Milan. Chelsea were the winners of the redraw, keeping their original opponents in Ligue 1’s Lille.
The original draw saw Manchester United once again set to face off against Paris Saint-Germain, with Cristiano Ronaldo to go head-to-head with Lionel Messi once again in the tie of the round.
Atletico Madrid were scheduled to take on Bayern Munich in the other mega tie, while the other English sides would have been happy with their draws as Liverpool faced Salzburg, Man City faced Villarreal.
However UEFA accidentally put Manchester United into the pot to be drawn against Villarreal and then they were selected, despite being ineligible to do so having come from the same group.
United then weren’t put into the pot for the potential opponents of Atletico amid the confusion, meaning they could never have been drawn against each other.
The draw will now be re-done at 14:00 UK time after several complaints that the botched draw affected the integrity of the competition going forward.
The fixtures will take place in February, with the first legs taking place on February 15/16 or 22/23 with the second legs taking place on March 8/9 or 15/16. Group winners will play their home game in the second leg.
Full draw and fixture dates:
FC Salzburg vs Bayern Munich – February 16th 2022
Bayern Munich vs FC Salzburg – March 8th 2022
Sporting CP vs Manchester City – February 15th 2022
Manchester City vs Sporting CP – March 9th 2022
SL Benfica vs Ajax – February 23rd 2022
Ajax vs SL Benfica – March 15th 2022
Chelsea vs Lille – February 22nd 2022
Lille vs Chelsea – March 16th 2022
Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United – February 23rd 2022
Manchester United vs Atletico Madrid – March 15th 2022
Villarreal vs Juventus – February 22nd 2022
Juventus vs Villarreal – March 16th 2022
Inter Milan vs Liverpool – February 16th 2022
Liverpool vs Inter Milan – March 8th 2022
Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid – February 15th 2022
Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain – March 9th 2022