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Paris St-Germain drew Real Madrid in the outstanding tie of a fascinating round of 16

 Updated 
Mon 11 Dec 2017 06.31 ESTFirst published on Mon 11 Dec 2017 05.30 EST
The Champions League
The Champions League last-16 draw will take place in Nyon, Switzerland. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA
The Champions League last-16 draw will take place in Nyon, Switzerland. Photograph: Salvatore Di Nolfi/EPA

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Meanwhile it’s Chelsea v Barcelona, though are some reasons for the English side to feel optimistic about that one.

7 - Chelsea are unbeaten in their last seven games against Barcelona in the Champions League (W2, D5). Run.

— OptaChelsea (@OptaChels) December 11, 2017

Lionel Messi: Has never scored in 8 appearances against Chelsea -- It's his worst record against a team in his career pic.twitter.com/yBcYErQXTe

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 11, 2017

So the draw in full:

Juventus v Tottenham
Basel v Manchester City
Porto v Liverpool
Sevilla v Manchester United
Real Madrid v Paris St-Germain
Shakhtar Donetsk v Roma
Chelsea v Barcelona
Bayern Munich v Besiktas

So they draw a runner-up first, and then match them with a group winner. The first name out of the hat is Juventus. They will play one of Manchester United, Paris, Liverpool, Manchester City, Beşiktaş and Tottenham Hotspur.

But no plucking yet: first Michael Heselschwerdt, the Uefa Head of Club Competitions, has to explain the rules and run through some details. This ground is very much already covered further down this page.

Xabi thinks the number of English clubs in the draw “is great news”. “Now the big teams are coming,” he warns. He has now taken draw position.

“It is absolutely impossible to predict the two teams that will take part in the final,” he says. It isn’t, though, not really. It’s only quite difficult. Let’s not go overboard here.

Uefa’s deputy general secretary, Giorgio Marchetti, is introduced. He’s going to be in charge of the actual draw, and he also sends best wishes from the absent Ceferin: “He wishes the best of luck to the teams that have reached this stage of the competition.”

And after bigging up his competition for a while, he introduces a lengthy team-introduction video montage.

Pictures just in of the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin. The reason he doesn’t look very excited is that he’s in Bulgaria, and thus about 1,700km away from where the action is. This looks to me like a serious diary malfunction.

Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin at a press conference in Sofia. Photograph: Vassil Donev/EPA

In a rare twist for football governance, there’s nothing untoward happening here: it’s because Besiktas won their group, and Chelsea are the only English team that didn’t.

@Simon_Burnton how come Chelsea are the only English team who can draw Besiktas? Doesn't that mean tat the draw is a little bit "fixed"?

— Cönor Whelan (@Conorwhelanire) December 11, 2017

Besiktas are currently fourth in Turkey’s Super Lig, and drew 1-1 with Kayserispor yesterday. There isn’t a second-placed team (apart from Porto, who can’t play them) who won’t be crossing their fingers and dreaming of Istanbul right now. Or at least they would be, if teams had fingers and dreams.

Here’s who the English clubs could end up facing. Chelsea have a 66.66% chance of serious difficulty, but they’re also the only English team who might draw Besiktas:

Chelsea: Paris St-Germain, Barcelona, Besiktas.

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

Manchester City: Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Porto, Real Madrid.

Manchester United: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto or Real Madrid.

Tottenham: Basel, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Shakhtar Donetsk, Porto.

Hello world!

There seem to be a lot of draws about at the moment. The dust only just having settled after the World Cup pot-picking party a couple of weeks back, it’s time to find out who plays who in the first knock-out round of this season’s Champions League. The draw will take place in Nyon, home of Uefa, and sees no fewer than four English teams among the seeded group winners. On the plus side, since the Champions League adopted the current format 72.3% of group winners have progressed through their round of 16 ties. On the down side, there are some devilishly difficult opponents on the list of runners-up, including both of last season’s finalists. The competition small print dictates that Real Madrid have a 50% chance of playing an English team, but that Juventus have a 66% chance of being forced to fly to England in early March. Other than the English teams themselves, the only side that cannot possibly play Premier League opponents is Roma.

So, without further ado, these are the names that will be printed on paper, folded up and crammed into small plastic balls ahead of the draw:

Group winners

Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain
Roma
Barcelona
Liverpool
Manchester City
Besiktas
Tottenham

Tottenham finished Group H winners ahead of Real Madrid. Photograph: Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

Group runners-up

Basel
Bayern
Chelsea
Juventus
Sevilla
Shakhtar Donetsk
Porto
Real Madrid

The key rules: No team can be re-paired with a team they already faced in the group stage, or with a side from their own country.

The dates: Four first legs will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday 13/14 February, and the remainder the following week. Group winners will be away in the first leg. The return matches will be held on 6/7 and 13/14 March. The draw for the quarter-finals will be held that Friday, 16 March.

And that is very much all you need to know. Welcome. Let’s get busy with balls.

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