Champions League Round of 16 draw preview
The final round of the group stage in the UEFA Champions League is complete. Of the 32 teams that qualified for the eight groups in Europe’s elite club competition, only half remain.
The draw for the Round of 16 will be held on Monday in Nyon, Switzerland. In case you’re unfamiliar with the draw, here’s how it works.
Group winners are placed in one pot, while runners-up from each group are placed in another. Teams from the two pots are drawn to face one another.
[Related: Roma 0-2 Manchester City: Citizens qualify for knockout round]
The rules of the draw are fairly simple. No two teams from the same domestic league can be drawn together. Nor can any two teams who faced each other in the group stage be drawn against one another. Teams that topped their group get to play the away legs of their ties first.
These are the group winners and runners-up that made it into the last 16.
Group winners: Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, Monaco, Porto, Real Madrid
Runners-up: Arsenal, Basel, Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Manchester City, PSG, Schalke, Shakhtar Donetsk
While we saw some great matches in this year’s group stages, experienced Champions League watchers know the latter stages of the competition are where the real action is.
These are the possible permutations that could emerge from Monday’s draw.
GROUP WINNERS:
Atletico Madrid: Basel, Leverkusen, Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Schalke, Shakhtar
Barcelona: Juventus, Basel, Leverkusen, Arsenal, Man City, Schalke, Shakhtar
Bayern Munich: Juventus, Basel, Arsenal, PSG, Shakhtar
Borussia Dortmund: Juventus, Basel, Man City, PSG, Shakhtar
Chelsea: Juventus, Basel, Leverkusen, PSG, Shakhtar
Monaco: Juventus, Basel, Arsenal, Man City, Schalke, Shakhtar
Porto: Juventus, Basel, Leverkusen, Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Schalke
Real Madrid: Juventus, Leverkusen, Arsenal, Man City, PSG, Schalke, Shakhtar
RUNNERS-UP:
Arsenal: Atletico, Real Madrid, Monaco, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Porto
Basel: Atletico, Monaco, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto
Bayer Leverkusen: Atletico, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto
Juventus: Real Madrid, Monaco, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea, Porto
Man City: Atletico, Real Madrid, Monaco, Dortmund, Barcelona, Porto
PSG: Atletico, Real Madrid, Dortmund, Bayern, Chelsea, Porto
Schalke: Atletico, Real Madrid, Monaco, Barcelona, Porto
Shakhtar: Atletico, Real Madrid, Monaco, Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea
Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea and Barcelona are the heavy favorites to win this year’s competition. So obviously they’ll be the ones most teams are looking to avoid. But there are definitely teams among the runners-up that could give pause to even the favorites, with PSG, Man City and Arsenal among the sides the big boys will hope to avoid Monday.
Question marks remain over many of the other remaining teams. Will La Liga over-achievers Atletico be able to repeat last season’s success? Will Juventus finally be able to reproduce their domestic form on the continent? Can Borussia Dortmund maintain their excellent Champions League campaign despite their dismal form in the Bundesliga?
These questions and many more will be answered when the Champions League kicks off again in February.
The Round of 16 draw will be streamed live on Monday at 6 a.m. ET on uefa.com.
