Saturday. 14.12.2024

Lionel Messi faces another date against Real Madrid with Paris Saint-Germain, according to the Champions League draw which had to be redone after glitches in the initial proceedings.

Messi joined PSG in summer after playing many Clasicos against the record European champions Real during his long term at Barcelona.

PSG were initially drawn against Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United but the draw had to be redone because teams were not correctly placed into pots as part as the complicated draw proceedings.

United's new task against Spanish champions Atletico Madrid, and the other last 16 ties played in February and March are title holders Chelsea v Lille, Inter Milan v Liverpool, Salzburg v Bayern Munich, Sporting v Manchester City, Benfica v Ajax and Villarreal v Juventus.

The Champions League last 16 draw had to be repeated because of a technical glitch, the ruling body UEFA said.

'A material error'

"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 for the UEFA Champions League round of 16," UEFA said without giving further details.

Manchester United were initially drawn against Villarreal but that was a mistake because the two already played in the same group. United's name was then seemingly not among the teams who could face Atletico Madrid.

Villarreal were then drawn to play Manchester City, Atletico to face Bayern Munich while Ronaldo's United were pitted against Lionel Messi's Paris Saint-Germain.

Mistakes at such draw procedures are extremely rare.

Two groups

The 16 teams were divided into two groups with seeded group winners drawn against runners-up.

However, teams that played against each other in the group stage are kept apart and so are teams from the same national league.

That means that not every group winner can face any runner-up and vice versa.

Apart from the Manchester United v Villarreal glitch it also for instance meant that title holders Chelsea as runner-up could not face their group winners Juventus nor the other three English group winners United, City and Liverpool.

Messi's PSG face Real Madrid in redone Champions League draw