Manchester City must overcome Real Madrid if they are to keep their Champions League hopes alive after the pair were drawn together for a blockbuster playoff tie.
In a fiendish consequence of City’s scratchy league phase, which saw them narrowly avoid early elimination by finishing 22nd, they will face the La Liga leaders and reigning European champions next month. Celtic have been dealt an equally tough assignment in the form of Bayern Munich. The play-off winners will all enter the round of 16 but there is no further safety net for those defeated.
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It means a swift renewal of acquaintances for City and Real, who have contested 10 Champions League ties in the last decade and most recently met in last season’s quarter-finals. City, who were the holders, lost a penalty shootout at the Etihad Stadium after a 4-4 aggregate draw.
City will hope that an uptick in their previously disastrous domestic form helps them go one better and they may be boosted by the fact that their recent signings Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis can be registered for the knockouts stages of the competition. City will host the first leg on 11 or 12 February before travelling to the Bernabéu on 18 or 19 February.
Celtic’s first post-Christmas Champions League knockout match since 2012-13 will be the first leg against Bayern at Celtic Park. Brendan Rodgers’s side visit Germany the following week. The teams have not met since two fixtures during the group stage in 2017-18.
The winners of each tie will play one of Atlético Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, who have already progressed to the round of 16 after finishing in the top eight of the league phase.
Other floundering giants will feel confident of progress. Paris Saint-Germain, who joined City in edging through the league phase on Wednesday’s sprawling final matchday, face an all-French tie against surprise package Brest. In two ties pitching Serie A against the Eredivisie, Juventus play PSV Eindhoven while Milan meet Feyenoord.
Monaco will play Benfica while Sporting come up against a struggling Borussia Dortmund. A tie between Atalanta and Club Bruges completes the playoff pairings.
