Champions League Round of 16 Draw

Arsenal and Manchester City now know who they will be facing over two legs in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

Following the conclusion of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Group Stages last week, the draw was made on Monday morning at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Here, football clubs would see who they will have to get the better of in order to secure their place in the Quarter Finals of this season’s competition.

Just two English sides made it beyond the Group Stages after Manchester United and Newcastle United were knocked out of the competition after finishing at the bottom of their respective groups after all six matches had been played.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are the two English Premier League sides that qualified for the Round of 16 of this season’s Champions League.

After winning four, drawing one and losing one of their Group Stage matches, the Gunners finished at the top of Group B with 13 points in total. They finished 4 points ahead of Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, who finished as runners-up in second place with 9 points to their name.

As for City, they were one of the four clubs that made up Group G. The Cityzens were in ruthless and emphatic form in the group stages as they won all 6 of their matches, meaning that they earned the maximum amount of points available – 18. German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig were the club who came second, getting 12 points themselves. They finished 6 behind City.

The other clubs participating in the Round of 16 draw in this season’s UEFA Champions League. They were: FC Porto (Portugal), Napoli (Italy), FC Barcelona (Spain), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Real Sociedad (Spain), Inter Milan (Italy), Atletico Madrid (Spain), PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Lazio (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), FC Copenhagen (Denmark), RB Leipzig (Germany) and Real Madrid (Spain).

Amongst the clubs involved in the draw, they share no less than 32 European Cup wins between them.

We will now go through the draw for the 8 ties that are set to take place over the course of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Round of 16, starting with Arsenal against FC Porto.

FC Porto (Portugal) v Arsenal (England)

First, we have Mikel Arteta, who has been drawn against Portuguese heavyweights FC Porto in the Round of 16 of this season’s Champions League. The first leg is set to be played at Porto’s Estádio do Dragão in the first leg before this tie’s second and final match takes place at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday, 5th March 2024.

The most recent match to be played in the Champions League between these two clubs took place on 9th March 2010, which saw the Gunners win 5 – 0. Arsenal’s goals came from Niklas Bendtner (9’, 25’, 90’ – Penalty), Samir Nasri (63’) and Emmanuel Eboué (66’).

Overall, Arsenal have won 3 of their 6 encounters, with Porto winning 2. There has been just one draw between them as of the time of writing.

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Manchester City (England)

Next, we have Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who are set to travel to the Parken Stadium in Denmark to face the reigning Superliga Champions FC Copenhagen, who finished second in Group A. The first leg is set to be played in Denmark before the second leg is played at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday 5th March 2024.

City faced Copenhagen most recently on 11th October 2022 in a 0 – 0 draw at the Parken Stadium. Overall, Man City has won 2 and drawn 2 of their 4 encounters.

Napoli (Italy) v FC Barcelona (Spain)

The next Round of 16 ties to look at is the match between reigning Italian Champions Napoli and five-time European Champions FC Barcelona. The first leg of this mouth-watering tie will be played in Naples at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona before the second leg is played in Spain.

These two clubs have only met twice in the history of the UEFA Champions League. After drawing 1 -1 in the Round of 16 in the 2019/20 campaign, FC Barcelona won the second leg of that season’s tie.

Paris Saint-Germain (France) v Real Sociedad (Spain)

Paris Saint Germain has only made the European Cup/Champions League Final once, and this was in the 2019/20 season when they lost 1 – 0 against Bayern Munich in the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, Portugal. The Parisians are looking to take a step closer to returning to the final by beating La Liga side Real Sociedad in the Round of 16.

The first leg will be played at the Parc des Princes before the second leg is played at Real Sociedad’s Reale Arena.

This will be the first ever meeting between these two clubs in this competition.

Inter Milan (Italy) v Atletico Madrid (Spain)

Inter Milan go face to face with Spanish heavyweights Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League. The first leg is set to be played at the historic and iconic San Siro before the second leg of this tie is played at the Estadio Metropolitano.

These two clubs have never met up until now in the history of the UEFA Champions League.

PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) v Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

A Borussia Dortmund team, including ex-Aston Villa Manager Paul Lambert, won the UEFA Champions League for the first time in the club’s history in 1997. They were 3 – 1 winners against Zinedine Zidane’s Juventus. BVB now meet Dutch heavyweights PSV Eindhoven in the Round of 16 in the 2023/24 competition.

The first leg will be played at the Philips Stadion before the second leg is then played at the Signal Iduna Park.

These two clubs have played against each other just twice in the Champions League. Both games took place in Group A of the 2002/03 edition of the competition. Dortmund 3 – 1 in the Netherlands before the two clubs played out a 1 – 1 draw in Germany.

Lazio (Italy) v Bayern Munich (Germany)

6 time European Champions Bayern Munich are set to face Italian side Lazio in the Round of 16 of the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League. The first leg will be played at the historic Stadio Olimpico in Rome before the second leg takes place at the Allianz Arena in Bavaria.

Bayern Munich and Lazio’s only previous Champions League meeting came at the same stage in the 2020/21 competition. Bayern won the first leg 4 – 1 in Italy before winning 2 – 1 in Germany to secure passage into the next round. The aggregate victory for the Bavarian Giants was 6 – 2.

RB Leipzig (Germany) v Real Madrid (Spain)

The final 2023/24 UEFA Champions League Round Of 16 tie to talk about is between RB Leipzig and Real Madrid. Leipzig are going up against Los Blancos, who have won this prestigious competition on a record 14 occasions as of the time of writing. The German side will seek their inaugural title, while Real will seek a 15th.

The first leg will be played at the RB Arena in Germany before the iconic Santiago Bernabéu hosts the decisive second leg.

RB Leipzig and Real Madrid have come face to face in the Champions League just twice, with both games coming in Group F in last season’s (2022/23) competition. Los Blancos won 2 – 0 in their first encounter before Leipzig got a surprise 3 – 2 win in Germany in their second and most recent encounter.

Excitement and anticipation are building rapidly ahead of the Round of 16 in this season’s (2023/24) UEFA Champions League in March 2024.

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