Today, on Friday, the draws for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 will be decided at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland. The eight teams that qualified from the group stage will have the home advantage in the second leg of the matches. Among them are Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. Real Madrid and the other playoff qualifiers will have to play their second leg away from home. In addition to the upcoming matches, tomorrow will also determine the path to the final in Munich. The order of the matches will be decided (which team will play at home in the first leg and which in the second).
Potential opponents for Spanish teams
Real Madrid will face either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League Round of 16. One of the possibilities is a Madrid derby. The last three times Real Madrid and Atletico faced each other, the matches ended in a draw. The most recent one was on February 8 at the Santiago Bernabeu in La Liga’s matchday 23. On the other hand, Real Madrid has not crossed paths with Bayer Leverkusen on the field for 21 years. The last time they clashed was in November 2004 when they were in the same group B in the Champions League group stage. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
If Atletico Madrid does not face Carlo Ancelotti’s team, they will go up against Bayern Munich. The last time Atletico faced the German giants was in 2020 during the group stage. The second leg was played in December of that year and ended in a 1-1 draw.
Barcelona will be up against PSG or Benfica. The last time Barcelona played against PSG was last year in the Champions League quarter-finals. Flick’s team lost both legs of the tie, allowing PSG to advance to the semi-finals. On the other hand, Barcelona has not faced Benfica since the group stage of the 2021/2022 season where they played to a goalless draw.
When and where to watch the Champions League Draw
The Round of 16 draw can be followed on UEFA.com and EL PAÍS starting at 12:00 PM on Friday, February 21.