Real Madrid will play Liverpool in the last 16 of this season’s Champions League – a repeat of May’s final in the French capital Paris.
The Spanish champions beat Jurgen Klopp’s men 1-0 to lift the trophy and Monday’s draw has again pitted them against each other.
The draw’s other standout tie is Paris Saint‑Germain versus Bayern Munich, two giants of European football who contested the 2020 final.
PSG was unseeded in this draw and left exposed to facing Bayern because a stoppage-time goal for Benfica in a 6-1 win last week at Maccabi Haifa meant the Portuguese club topped their group.
Benfica was rewarded Monday with a pairing against Club Brugge, the 15th-ranked team in the draw.
The lowest-ranked team, AC Milan, will be at home against Tottenham in the first leg in its return to the Champions League knockout rounds after a nine-year gap.
Manchester City was paired with Leipzig, and Chelsea was drawn to face Borussia Dortmund in Premier League vs. Bundesliga clashes.
Napoli, the top-scoring team in the group stage, will play Eintracht Frankfurt, and Inter Milan is at home first against Porto.
Champions League draw – last 16
- RB Leipzig vs Manchester City
- Club Brugge vs Benfica
- Liverpool vs Real Madrid
- AC Milan vs Tottenham
- Eintracht Frankfurt vs Napoli
- Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea
- Inter Milan vs Porto
- Paris Saint‑Germain vs Bayern Munich
First-leg games are played from 14-22 February. Return games are from 7-15 March.
The unusually long wait of more than three months between the group and knockout stages was caused by the World Cup in Qatar being played in November and December.
The congested season meant the six-round group stage started earlier than usual in September and was completed in just nine weeks.
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