Written by Staff Writer
In what was one of the most unpredictable Champions League matches of the season, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were reunited in the final draw on Friday.
The two teams were split in two after last week’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland, but after a re-draw Paris had been drawn to play Madrid in the last 16 of the competition.
Marseille, who have enjoyed a remarkable season after coming out of administration, were drawn with Juventus and Olympiakos of Greece.
They will be joined by Porto, who were drawn against Manchester United in another all-Portuguese clash and Ajax, who will play another Dutch side in Liverpool.
Celtic, who beat Arsenal last week to become the first club from Britain to play in the competition’s knockout stage for 58 years, were drawn against Bayern Munich, who themselves will face Juventus.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, whose side lost the Europa League final to Sevilla on Thursday, said he would embrace the possibility of an all-British quarter-final.
“It would be fantastic if we got it,” he said. “If we don’t get it, I’m not going to complain. I’m only interested in playing against Juventus and a good match.
“It’s up to us but if you ask me, that’s an incredibly exciting quarter-final — that’s exactly how I would think it should be.”
Augsburg, who failed to qualify from the group stage after a shock exit at the hands of Napoli, were seeded and will play Porto. The German club will be looking to end the year on a high following a run of one win in 15 matches.
Manchester City were drawn in a tough group alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Paris Saint-Germain and Feyenoord, who in the week’s other draw, were drawn against Turkish giants Besiktas.
Manchester United, who won the competition last season, were drawn in the same group as Sevilla, and in the same quarter of the draw as Chelsea.
The 2017 and 2018 champions, Roma and Liverpool, were drawn in the same group as Red Star Belgrade, the Serbian side who reached the Europa League final in May 2017.
The draw
Liverpool v Ajax
Manchester United v Juventus
Besiktas v Sevilla
Man City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Feyenoord v Porto
Real Madrid v PSG
Marseille v Olympiakos
Porto v Manchester United
Celtic v Bayern Munich