Jonathan Wilson on the Champions League draw
That’s both draws sorted, then. Extremely tough conditions for the English sides in the Champions League, and a rather easier ride for the British teams in the Europa League draw: Rangers v Braga is arguably the toughest of the British bunch in the second-tier competition – you would expect Celtic to beat Copenhagen, Manchester United to beat Club Brugge, Arsenal to beat Olympiakos and Wolves to give Espanyol a good game.
Thanks for reading, and for your emails and tweets. See you next time.
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Park Ji-sung, who is at the draw as a Manchester United ambassador:
There is no easy team. These days, the team is doing so well. Hopefully we can get a good result. A couple of years ago, we won the trophy, and we know how important that it. But we don’t just want to focus on one competition.
Here are some selected odds for winning the Europa League, now that the draw has taken place. Wolves and Roma with the same odds!
Man Utd – 11/2
Arsenal – 7/1
Ajax -7/1
Inter Milan – 9/1
Wolves – 17/1
Roma – 17/1
Celtic – 66/1
Rangers - 150/1
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David Miles, Arsenal General Secretary, speaks about the draw with Olympiakos:
We’re not doing too well in the Premier League do the Europa League does offer a route into the Champions League, so this will be a big priority.
Asked about the management position, he says: “We hope for some stability soon.”
The full draw for the Europa League round of 32
With the ties involving British teams highlighted in bold.
Wolves v Espanyol
Sporting Lisbon v Istanbul Basaksehir
Getafe v Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen v Porto
FC Copenhagen v Celtic
Apoel FC v FC Basel
FC Cluj v Sevilla
Olympiakos v Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar v LASK
Club Brugge v Manchester United
Ludogorets v Internazionale
Eintracht Frankfurt v FC Salzburg
Shakhtar Donetsk v Benfica
Wolfsburg v Malmo
Roma v Gent
Rangers v Braga
Rangers v Braga
Braga topped the group that Wolves were in, in the group stage.
Roma v Gent
Tough draw for the Belgians.
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Wolfsburg v Malmo
Josephine Henning smiles a little as she draws her old team.
Shakhtar Donetsk v Benfica.
Two huge teams.
Eintracht Frankfurt v FC Salzburg
Frankfurt got to the semi-finals last season, remember, where they were knocked out by Chelsea over two legs.
Ludogorets v Internazionale
Antonio Conte’s side will go to Bulgaria.
Club Brugge v Manchester United
Park Ji-sung looks non-plussed in the plush Uefa seats.
AZ Alkmaar v LASK
LASK topped their Europa League group, beating Sporting into second place.
Olympiakos v Arsenal
The Joel Campbell derby
Cluj v Sevilla
No club has won this competition more times than the Spanish side.
Apoel FC v FC Basel
Basel reached the semi-finals in 2013, where they went out to Chelsea.
FC Copenhagen v Celtic
Celtic fans, how do you feel about that one?
Bayer Leverkusen v Porto
That’s a tasty draw.
Getafe v Ajax
Ajax dropped into the Europa League this season after finishing third in their Champions League group.
Sporting Lisbon v Istanbul Basaksehir
No club has played more times in the Uefa Cup/Europa League than Sporting Lisbon: 33. This is the first time in the round of 32 for Istanbul Basaksehir.
Wolves v Espanyol
Nuno Espírito Santo’s side will host the Spanish side first.
Here we go, then. The draw is about to begin.
Josephine Henning, who retired from football in 2018 at the age of 27, comes on stage. She won 42 caps for Germany, won gold at the 2016 Olympics and played for some of Europe’s biggest clubs inclusing Wolfsburg, PSG, Lyon and Arsenal.
She comes out with Frédéric Kanouté, who won this competition twice with Sevilla in 2006 and 2007, scoring in both finals against Middlesbrough and Espanyol.
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A Uefa suit comes on stage to tell us we are “getting closer” to the Europa League draw, which is undeniably a positive thing.
Is the Europa League trophy the best looking bit of silverware in club football? Yes.
Europa League last-32 draw
Keep your emails and tweets coming in to michael.butler@theguardian.com and @michaelbutler18, but we are moving now to the Europa League draw. Here’s how it works: the round of 32 draw consists of the top two from each group, plus eight teams dropping from the Champions League:
A reminder of the qualifiers from each group:
Group A Sevilla, Apoel
Group B Malmö, Copenhagen
Group C Basel, Getafe
Group D LASK, Sporting
Group E Celtic, Cluj
Group F Arsenal, Eintracht Frankfurt
Group G Porto, Rangers
Group H Espanyol, Ludogorets
Group I Gent, Wolfsburg
Group J Istanbul Basaksehir, Roma
Group K Braga, Wolves
Group L Manchester United, AZ Alkmaar
Dropping from Champions League
Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, Benfica, Brugge, Internazionale, Olympiakos, Salzburg, Shakhtar Donetsk
A reminder of the ground rules: group winners will be drawn against group runners up, but cannot be drawn against teams from the group that they qualified from, or teams from their own nation.
First legs take place 20 Feb, second legs 27 Feb
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Ledley King of Tottenham Hotspur reacts to the draw with RB Leipzig:
It’s a tough task. They play with a lot of pace and intensity and have proved a surprise package. It’s a challenge we won’t be taking lightly. I hope that our experience of being in the Champions League will be important. The manager [Mourinho] has been there and done it. His experience will rub off on the players.
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@michaelbutler18 I’d say Liverpool are the likeliest of the English teams to progress. City will probably beat Madrid though. I can see both Chelsea and Spurs struggling badly against their German opponents.
— Roy Allen (@Roy_Allen) December 16, 2019
RB Leipzig are currently leading the Bundesliga, so while they are arguably the easiest opponents for English opponents, they could easily do the business on Spurs.
Personally, I can’t see Chelsea beating Bayern over two legs. Would be interesting to see Callum Hudson-Odoi run riot against the German side that looked certain to sign him last season.
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Here is our report of the Champions League last-16 draw
Chelsea, meanwhile, have reacted to drawing old foes Bayern Munich. Personally, would have gone for Drogba and 2012, but whatevs.
We meet again. 😏#UCLDraw pic.twitter.com/qZhd1O1a8t
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) December 16, 2019
Txiki Begiristain, Manchester City’s director of football, speaks!
It’s a difficult one. Real Madrid are the best. We want to be the best so we have to try and beat them. It’s always a pleasure to play against Real Madrid. We know them very well. They know our manager.
Accurate of exactly five minutes ago (following the draw), here are the live odds for teams to win the Champions League outright. Manchester City remain favourites to win their first-ever Champions League, despite drawing Real Madrid.
Man City - 7/2
Liverpool - 4/1
Barcelona - 5/1
PSG - 13/2
Bayern Munich - 15/2
Juventus - 12/1
Real Madrid - 16/1
Tottenham - 22/1
Atletico Madrid - 28/1
Chelsea - 40/1
RB Leipzig - 40/1
Borussia Dortmund - 66/1
Napoli - 80/1
Valencia - 100/1
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That is a horrendous draw for the English sides, save for Tottenham. Of the sides that Liverpool (Atalanta, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Real Madrid) and Manchester City (Real Madrid, Napoli, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon) could have drawn, theirs are arguably the hardest.
The full draw for the last 16 of the Champions League
Borussia Dortmund v PSG
Real Madrid v Manchester City
Atalanta v Valencia
Atlético Madrid v Liverpool
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Lyon v Juventus
Tottenham v RB Leipzig
Napoli v Barcelona
Napoli v Barcelona
Should be an easy one for Gattuso and co.
Tottenham v RB Leipzig
José Mourinho is going to win the whole thing, isn’t he.
Lyon v Juventus
Cristiano will be pleased with that.
Chelsea v Bayern Munich
Bayern were the only team to win all six matches in the group stage. Tough ties for the English sides!
Atlético Madrid v Liverpool
Liverpool go back to the Wanda Metropolitano, where they were crowned champions of Europe just a few months ago.
Atalanta v Valencia
A relatively soft tie. Atalanta are the first debutants to reach the last 16 since Leicester.
Real Madrid v Manchester City
An easy one for the favourites, Manchester City, then. That’s if they are still favourites.
Borussia Dortmund will play PSG
A whopper to get us started. Thomas Tuchel will return to Dortmund.
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Here we go! The draw starts now.
Kelly Smith, England legend, is invited onto the stage to help with the draw. She talks of how great it is that the Women’s Champions League will be expanded to include a last-16 group stage for the 2021-22 season.
Hamit Altıntop, formerly of Bayern, Schalke and Galatasaray, is another to join the ceremony. This year’s Champions League final, of course, is in Istanbul, Altintop’s home country. He also won the Puskas Award in 2010 for this thunderbastard. Woof.
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The last time we had a Champions League draw, back in the summer, Slavia Prague were drawn into the ‘Group of Death’ with Barcelona, Dortmund and Inter. Ah.
That feeling when you get Barcelona, Dortmund & Inter in the #UCLdraw!@slaviaofficial 😄 pic.twitter.com/O8j1ABg0u5
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2019
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Here we go: Pedro Pinto, formerly of CNN, will host the draw. Ledley King, Tottenham’s representative at the draw, looks nervous.
“COYS”, emails Thomas Simmons.
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This is a fun story: Chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen leads second-placed Nick Tanner, the former Liverpool and Bristol Rovers defender, and his team “winorloseonthebooze”. There are over seven million people playing that game.
A friendly reminder that the Europa League last-32 draw will follow this one. The same rules apply there, but we could easily see Rangers play Arsenal or Manchester United or Celtic face Wolves.
Based upon their past performances in this competition, it is perhaps surprising to see Manchester City as the clear favourites before the draw. Here are the current odds for all the teams.
Man City - 13/4
Liverpool - 5/1
Barcelona - 8/1
PSG - 15/2
Bayern Munich - 8/1
Juventus - 14/1
Real Madrid - 16/1
Tottenham - 25/1
Atletico Madrid - 25/1
Chelsea - 40/1
Borussia Dortmund - 66/1
RB Leipzig - 66/1
Napoli - 66/1
Valencia - 150/1
This is the first ever season in the Champions League where all 16 teams have come from the top five leagues in Europe. Shakhtar, Ajax, Benfica and Zenit all came close to qualifying, but ultimately it was only the teams from England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain that qualified.
Atalanta are perhaps the team that most teams will be hoping to face. They gained just one point from their first four games, before two wins saw them qualify as runners up with seven points, behind Manchester City in Group C.
Atalanta have already made €27m from the Champions League this season. Those Castagne and Pasalic goals are worth another €12.5m. That’s €39.5m. Their wage bill is €36m
— James Horncastle (@JamesHorncastle) December 11, 2019
Debutants ✅ Round of 16 hopefuls ✅
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 16, 2019
⚫️🔵 @Atalanta_BC 👏#UCLdraw
Their dance here is, of course, a tribute to their captain, Papu Gómez.
So it’s about 30 minutes until the actual draw, which takes place at Uefa’s HQ in Nyon, Switzerland. Here are some red-hot pictures of the stage to get your juices flowing.
Preamble
Hello world! It is 64 days until the next Champions League action, but don’t let that stop you getting excited! Glory awaits! Or at least a lucrative payout when your team falls at the first hurdle! Exciting!
Here are the 16 teams that are left in the competition with eight group winners and eight group runners up making the cut.
Group winners
PSG
Bayern Munich
Manchester City
Juventus
Liverpool
Barcelona
RB Leipzig
Valencia
Group runners up
Real Madrid
Tottenham Hotspur
Atalanta
Atlético Madrid
Napoli
Borussia Dortmund
Lyon
Chelsea
Some basic ground rules: group winners will be drawn against group runners up, but cannot be drawn against other teams from their own nation, or from the group that they qualified from.
E.g. Liverpool (Group E winners) cannot be drawn against Napoli Chelsea or Tottenham Hotspur.
Liverpool can therefore draw: Atalanta, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon, Real Madrid.
Manchester City can therefore draw: Real Madrid, Napoli, Atlético Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon.
Spurs can therefore draw: PSG, Juventus, Barcelona, RB Leipzig, Valencia.
Chelsea can therefore draw: PSG, Bayern, Juventus, Barcelona, RB Leipzig.
Got it? To work out the non-English teams’ potential draw, you can view all of the Champions League groups right here.
The first legs are scheduled for 18/19/25 or 26 February and the second legs are set for 10/11/17 or 18.
