Champions League last 16 draw live: Reaction as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and City learn their fate

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of today's Champions League Round of 16 stage draw.

Join us this morning for build-up, live coverage and reaction to the draw itself. 

English clubs to learn their fate

The five English clubs who created history by qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages will learn their fate when the draw for the last 16 is held in Nyon, Switzerland, this morning.

Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea all qualified from their respective groups, making England the first country to have five teams in the competition's last 16.

Chelsea face a daunting tie, with Paris St Germain, Barcelona and Besiktas their only possible opponents when the draw is made at UEFA's headquarters at 11am GMT.

The Blues finished second behind Roma in their group and along with the Serie A side, they are also ineligible to face their Premier League rivals.

The two Manchester clubs, Liverpool and Tottenham all finished top of their groups, meaning Chelsea can only be paired with either the French or Turkish champions, or the current LaLiga leaders.

Chelsea did not qualify for last season's Champions League but their interest in the competition was ended by PSG in the previous two editions, although they eliminated Barca en route to the 2012 title in the last meeting between the teams.

For the four remaining English clubs, five-time champions Bayern Munich and last year's runners-up Juventus are stand-out dangers, while reigning champions Real Madrid are potential foes for United, City and Liverpool.

Tottenham surprisingly finished ahead of the 12-time champions in the group en route to qualifying for the knockout stages for only the third time in their history, meaning they avoid Zinedine Zidane's men for the time being.

Real defeated United in the European Super Cup earlier this year and have knocked the Red Devils out of the Champions League on three occasions since the turn of the century.

Liverpool overcame Real in the 1981 European Cup final and memorably defeated them 5-0 on aggregate in the last 16 eight years ago. City are winless in their four meetings with Spain's capital club in the last five years.

Basel, runners-up to United, Sevilla, second in their group to Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk, who qualified alongside City in their pool, and Porto will be viewed as kinder draws.

PSG - bolstered by an enviable attacking trio of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Kylian Mbappe - are currently favourites with bookmakers to go all the way in the Champions League for the first time.

They could be paired alongside Real - third favourites behind Manchester City - in what would be indisputably the tie of the round.

The draw for the last 32 of the Europa League will be conducted an hour later, and Arsenal, the only remaining English team in the competition, could face Scottish champions Celtic.

Arsene Wenger's men will be seeded after finishing as one of 12 group winners and will therefore avoid the likes of AC Milan, Villarreal and Zenit St Petersburg.

They will also be kept away from CSKA Moscow, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig and Sporting Lisbon, the four best third-placed teams in the Champions League group stages.

Because Celtic won only won one Champions League game, they join Napoli, Spartak Moscow and Borussia Dortmund as the unseeded teams.

What are the Round of 16 draw rules? 

First of all, the rules. In the draw for the Round of 16, the eight group-stage winners are all seeded, while the runners-up are all unseeded. The seeded teams are then drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams playing at home in the second leg.

So far, so simple – right?

But there are a couple of catches. Teams from the same group cannot play one another – so Group H winners Spurs cannot play Group H runners-up Real Madrid, for example – while teams from the same country cannot play one another either.

Which means, unfortunately, there’s going to be no Manchester United vs Liverpool European showdown until at least the quarter-finals, when seeding goes out the window and teams from the same association can be drawn against one another.

The first legs will be played on 13, 14, 20 and 21 February, with the return legs played on 6, 7, 13 and 14 March 2018.

Who could United play in the Round of 16? 

Potential opponents: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto, Real Madrid.

Spurs have thrown a massive spanner into the works for all the English teams by beating Real Madrid to first-place in Group H: the reigning champions are the obvious team for United to avoid. Bayern and Juventus are the other big banana skins.

That leaves three ties United would view as winnable: Sevilla, Shakhtar and Porto. 

Who could Liverpool face? 

Potential opponents: Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto, Real Madrid.

Liverpool will naturally be desperate to avoid Bayern, Juventus and Real. Porto is another tough game, but they will see Basel and Shakhtar as far more winnable matches.

Who could City play in the next round? 

Potential opponents: Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Porto, Real Madrid.

As with the other English teams, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Real Madrid are the teams to avoid. Although playing as they currently are, City will surely fancy their chances against all three.

Sevilla would be a difficult match. But Basel and Porto shouldn’t pose too many problems to Pep Guardiola’s side.

Which teams could Spurs play in the Round of 16? 

Potential opponents: Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto.

Spurs fans will be delighted to know they’ve made life more difficult for all of their English rivals by unexpectedly topping Group H ahead of Real Madrid, meaning the defending champions will be unseeded for the Round of 16 draw.

But Spurs could still play either Bayern Munich or Juventus in the next round – two of the biggest and strongest teams in the competition.

Mauricio Pochettino’s side would be the favourites to progress if drawn against either Basel or Porto, although Sevilla is a potential banana skin. 

Who could Chelsea play?

Potential opponents: Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona or Besiktas.

Chelsea have made life difficult for themselves by failing to top the group ahead of Roma.

That means they have a very high chance of drawing one of the best teams remaining in the competition, in PSG or Barcelona.

Chelsea fans will be crossing their fingers that they get Turkish side Besiktas instead. It's the only kind permutation. 

Which pot is harder ...? 

... Ironically, it's pot two.

European heavyweights Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Juventus all failed to top their groups, leaving them in Pot Two.

And when you combine the fact that some unexpected teams came first in their respective groups - such as Tottenham Hotspur and Besiktas - the Pot One combined co-efficient is actually higher than Pot Two.

Here are the seedings in full...

Pot 1 (club coefficient ranking): Manchester United (14), Paris Saint-Germain (6), Roma (30), Barcelona (3), Liverpool(32), Manchester City (8), Besiktas (28), Tottenham Hotspur (21).

Pot 2: Basel (20), Bayern Munich (4), Chelsea (15), Juventus (5), Sevilla (7), Shakhtar Donetsk (16), Porto (12), Real Madrid (1).

A closer look at Europe's best...

Barcelona

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Star man: Lionel Messi

Winners: 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015

The LaLiga leaders have shrugged off the loss of Neymar this season and came through Group D unbeaten to top the group above Juventus. They will be top of the list of teams to avoid in the last 16.

Paris Saint-Germain

Coach: Unai Emery

Star man: Neymar

Champions League/European Cup best: Semi-finals 1995

Paris St Germain have made little secret of the fact the Champions League is their number one priority, and with Ligue 1 appearing to take care of itself - they top the table by nine points - they will go all in. World-record signing Neymar has elevated their game considerably, but Edinson Cavani is keeping up in the scoring rates and they look extremely dangerous.

Roma

Coach: Eusebio Di Francesco

Star man: Edin Dzeko

Champions League/European Cup best: Runners-up 1984

With Edin Dzeko in the form of his life - the 31-year-old earned a Ballon d'Or nomination this year - Roma managed to edge out Chelsea to top Group C. They are far from the full package, but as Chelsea will attest from their 3-0 hiding in the Italian capital, they should not be underestimated.