Champions League redraw sees Atletico vs Man United, Inter vs Liverpool
The Champions League round-of-16 draw had to be redone on Monday, with Atletico Madrid paired with Manchester United, and Liverpool set to face reigning Serie A champions Inter Milan.
UEFA had earlier blamed a “clerical error” due to a “technical problem with the software of an external service provider” as it announced that the draw for the first knockout round of its flagship competition would have to be redone three hours later.
"I apologise we have had to redraw to do the round-of-16 draw. There were some errors made in the original draw," said UEFA director Giorgio Marchetti.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi had appeared set for another Champions League showdown during Monday's initial draw, when United were eventually paired with PSG, having earlier erroneously been placed as opponents for Villarreal, whom they could not have met, having been in the same group in the previous round.
With the whole draw compromised, a red-faced UEFA was left with little choice but to start again three hours later.
Atletico had been matched up against Bayern Munich in the voided draw. The German champions will now face FC Salzburg.
Inter, who first had been drawn against Ajax, will now face Liverpool. The last time Liverpool played Inter was back in 2008 in the same stage of the competition, and the Reds emerged as 3-0 victors on aggregate to progress.
Elsewhere, Juventus will face Villarreal, Manchester City are up against Sporting CP and Benfica were paired with Ajax. Chelsea and Lille were paired together in both draws.
Group winners will be away in the first leg, with ties to be played on Feb 15-16 and Feb 22-23. Return legs will be played on March 8-9 and March 15-16.
The final will take place on Saturday, May 28, at Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Round-of-16 draw
FC Salzburg vs Bayern Munich
Sporting CP vs Manchester City
Benfica vs Ajax
Chelsea vs Lille
Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United
Villarreal vs Juventus
Inter vs Liverpool
Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid
Initial round-of-16 draw, declared void:
Benfica vs Real Madrid
Villarreal vs Manchester City
Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich
FC Salzburg vs Liverpool
Inter Milan vs Ajax
Sporting CP vs Juventus
Chelsea vs Lille
Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester United
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now