That concludes the draws…so much to look forward to in February.
Bayern Munich got Lazio in the draw and seem to have recovered their stride.
Hi, John, says Richard Morris of the Champions League draw: “It’s a really good draw if you care (Villa fan, I care) about the UEFA coefficient and a fifth place in the league delivering a Champions League slot. Spain, Germany and Italy are all going to be knocking each other out.”
Europa Conference League play-off round draw
Maccabi Haifa v KAA Gent
Molde v Legia Warsaw
Ajax v Bodo/Glimt
Olympiakos v Ferencvaros
Real Betis v Dinamo Zagreb
Union Saint-Gilloise v Eintracht Frankfurt
Servette v Ludogorets
Sturm Graz v Slovan Bratislava
The fixtures will take place across two legs on 15 and 22 February 2024.
Updated
Maccabi Haifa v KAA Gent
Molde v Legia Warsaw
Ajax v Bodo/Glimt
Olympiakos v Ferencvaros
Real Betis v Dinamo Zagreb
Union Saint-Gilloise v Eintracht Frankfurt
Servette v Ludogorets
First up: Sturm Graz v Slovan Bratislava
Pedro, Giorgio and Tobias are back.
Only Conference League to go now:
Europa League dropouts:
Olympiacos
Ajax
Real Betis
Sturm Graz
Royal Union
Maccabi Haifa
Servette
Molde
Conference League second places:
Slovan Bratislava
Gent
Dinamo Zagreb
Bodo/Glimt
Legia Warsaw
Ferencvaros
Eintracht Frankfurt
Ludogorets
It was a pretty huge weekend in the WSL.
Football Weekly has already dropped.
It’s Carabao Cup football this week.
Talking of Roma.
Meanwhile, beef in the Manchester United v Liverpool rivalry that wasn’t much in evidence on Sunday.
Europa League play-off round draw
Shakhtar v Marseille
Galatasaray v Sparta Prague
Braga v Qarabag
Benfica v Toulouse
Young Boys v Sporting Lisbon
Lens v Freiburg
Milan v Rennes
Feyenoord v Roma
The fixtures will take place across two legs on 15 and 22 February 2024.
Updated
Shakhtar Donetsk v Marseille
Galatasaray v Sparta Prague
Braga v Qarabag
Benfica v Toulouse
Young Boys v Sporting Lisbon
Lens v Freiburg
Milan v Rennes
Champions League dropout first:
First out: Feyenoord v Roma
Europa League knockout draw
Pedro Pinto is back in the chair, and so that play-off round is about to be announced.
And so is Giorgio Marchetti, which means that it’s time for Tobias Hedstuck, too, but first Sevilla legend Julien Escude. He’s won the competition twice.
Here’s our snap piece as the Europa League play-off round approaches.
Let’s face it, that was not an exciting draw, with Inter v Atletico or Napoli v Barcelona. Arsenal may find Porto reasonably tough but City’s draw, well. They might fancy getting through.
Having knocked out United, can Copenhagen do the same to City?
We will face Copenhagen in the #UCL Round of 16 with our first leg away 🏆 pic.twitter.com/Bkj8efn27Z
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 18, 2023
Full last-16 Champions League draw
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
Lazio v Bayern Munich
PSV v Borussia Dortmund
Inter v Atlético Madrid
PSG v Real Sociedad
Napoli v Barcelona
FC Porto v Arsenal
Ties to be played 13/14 and 20/21 February, with second legs: 5/6 and 12/13 March
RB Leipzig v Real Madrid
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
Lazio v Bayern Munich
PSV v Borussia Dortmund
Inter v Atlético Madrid
PSG v Real Sociedad
Napoli v Barcelona
First out: FC Porto v Arsenal
Updated
We begin with the group winners….
Updated
Making the draw, which won’t include Chelsea, is John Terry. JT is reminiscing about facing Barcelona, including Ronaldinho and Messi. He backs old boss Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid. There’s a new gaffer on the admin side, a gentleman called Tobias Hedstuck. He’s running through the rules, taking the strain off Giorgio.
Even more excitingly, Giorgio Marchetti is here, Uefa’s king admin suit. He’s running through the clubs, too, dropping in the facts.
Pedro Pinto is here and that means it’s showtime. He’s running through the last 16 as we speak by means of a video montage.
Conference League admin:
Europa League dropouts:
Olympiacos
Ajax
Real Betis
Sturm Graz
Royal Union
Maccabi Haifa
Servette
Molde
Conference League second places:
Slovan Bratislava
Gent
Dinamo Zagreb
Bodo/Glimt
Legia Warsaw
Ferencvaros
Eintracht Frankfurt
Ludogorets
Later, there will be play-off rounds for both the Europa League and Conference League, essentially between second-placed qualifiers and dropouts from the competition below.
Champions League third-place dropouts:
Galatasaray
Lens
Braga
Benfica
Feyenoord
Milan
Young Boys
Shakhtar Donetsk
Europa League second-places:
Freiburg
Marseille
Sparta Prague
Sporting
Toulouse
Rennes
Roma
Qarabag FK
Preamble
Hello there, and welcome to the warming of the balls as the Champions League knockout stage is drawn, followed by the Europa League and Conference League. So, a busy day of admin awaits. But this is the big one.
Group winners:
Manchester City
Bayern Munich
Arsenal
Real Sociedad
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
Barcelona
Runners-up:
RB Leipzig
PSV Eindhoven
FC Copenhagen
Napoli
Inter Milan
Porto
Paris Saint-Germain
Lazio
Two-legged ties, to be played in February, seeded teams play their away game first. No away goals.
We kick off at 11am GMT so join me.
