A third draw for the Champions League last-16 was thankfully avoided after Michael Owen’s fears were proven wrong.
The event was thrown into chaos when the original draw had to be redone following a mix-up involving Manchester United.
United were accidentally drawn against Villarreal despite having played in the same group as them, and footage then showed their ball briefly removed from the draw process.
The draw was eventually voided, with a statement from UEFA saying: "Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw."
A second draw was subsequently made, with United this time being drawn against Atletico Madrid, while City came up against Sporting Lisbon.
Elsewhere, Chelsea were drawn with Lille, while Liverpool found themselves paired with Inter Milan – although even that wasn’t without its own confusion.
Michael Owen, a pundit on BT Sport, after the draw queried why Liverpool been excluded from contention to face Villarreal despite not facing them in the group stage.
The confusion was cleared up when explained that had Liverpool drawn Villarreal, then Inter Milan would have had to face either Juventus or Real Madrid, with neither fixture possible. Juventus being a fellow Italian side and Real an opponent already in the group stage.
Therefore, any more embarrassment was thankfully avoided as the fixtures for the last-16 stage were finally confirmed.
The last-16 ties will be played in February and March, with the first legs taking place on February 15/16 or 22/23, while the second legs will be played on March 8/9 or 15/16.
Champions League last-16 fixtures
RB Salzburg vs Bayern Munich
Sporting Lisbon vs Man City
Benfica vs Ajax
Chelsea vs Lille
Atletico Madrid vs Man United
Villarreal vs Juventus
Inter Milan vs Liverpool
PSG vs Real Madrid
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