While officials from European football's governing body were botching the draw ceremony for the last 16 of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain and Lille - who will face Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively - were preparing for theoretically less exacting encounters this weekend in the last 64 of the Coupe de France.
PSG - winners of the Coupe de France for six of the last seven years - will start the defence of their crown at fifth tier Ententes Feignies-Aulnoye on Sunday night. Lille host second division Auxerre on Friday evening at the Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Last Sunday afternoon at the venue, Lille drew 0-0 with Lyon to remain 11th in Ligue 1.
A few hours later, further up the food chain at the Parc des Princes, Kylian Mbappé - aided and abetted by a certain Lionel Messi - scored twice in PSG's 2-0 saunter past Monaco to go 13 points clear at the top.
In the prelude to the game between Ententes Feignies-Aulnoye and PSG, the football magazine So Foot has been publishing the diary of the Ententes Feignies-Aulnoye defender Gary Marigard.
"I'm not thinking about Sunday's game yet," Marigard told So Foot on Monday. "It will come gradually. One thing at a time."
Challenge
The 33-year-old added: "But everyone I meet is talking about it ... which is normal since it's the game of the year for us. They've been saying: 'I hope you didn't watch Mbappé's game against Monaco, because if you did, you're going to have nightmares.' But for now, I'm sleeping well and I still hope to sleep well until the game."
Marigard could well be yet another defender left with post-traumatic stress disorder after encountering the France international. Mbappé was in scintillating form against his alma mater to clock up his 99th and 100th goals for PSG and become the youngest player at 22 years and 357 days to score 100 goals for the same club.
Real Madrid - with whom Mbappé has been linked - should provide stiffer opposition than Monaco. Carlo Ancelotti's men opened up an eight point lead at the summit of La Liga on Sunday night following a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid.
Round of 16 draw ✔️
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Lille, who advanced to the knockout stages as winners of their group for the first time, drew the defending champions on both occasions of the bungled draw.
On paper, the tie favours the west Londoners who lie third in the English Premier League while Lille wallow in mid table.
"They are a very big team," said Lille boss Jocelyn Gourvennec. "They are the defending champions but we will do as we have done since the beginning: play at 300% to beat the odds.
Gourvennec, who took over at the French champions from Christophe Galtier, added: "It's a magnificent challenge to prepare for and we will have the second leg at home in a full stadium.
"We know that there will be a crazy atmosphere. Sport's history is made of exploits ... underdogs come out of the shadows and we want to be one of those."
Elsewhere in the competition, last season's runners-up Manchester City will expect to progress at the expense of Sporting. Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich face RB Salzburg and Inter, who have overcome a slow start to the season to surge to the top of Serie A, will test their mettle against Liverpool.
Manchester United, who were initially drawn against PSG before a technical error with the draw was discovered, will play Atletico Madrid.
Villareal will go up against Juventus and Ajax, who won all six of their group stage games, will take on Benfica.
