UEFA Champions League Round of 16: Liverpool face Real Madrid, PSG take on Bayern Munich

The draws for the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 took place on Monday at the European football body's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. The draw was held to decide the opponents for each team for the last 16 round. Big names like Chelsea FC, Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid, and Paris Saint Germain are the teams who are part of the knockout stage, the draw for which was held today. 

Round of 16 ties

Liverpool will face defending champions Real Madrid in the round of 16, while AC Milan will lock horns against Tottenham Hotspur. Paris-Saint Germain and Bayern Munich will face each other in the knockout stage and Manchester City will play Leipzig. 

Leipzig vs Manchester City

Club Brugge vs Benfica

Liverpool vs Real Madrid

AC Milan vs Tottenham

Frankfurt vs Napoli

Dortmund vs Chelsea

Internazionale vs Porto

PSG vs Bayern Munich

UEFA Champions League: Schedule

The last-16 first leg is slated to take place on 14-15 and 21-22 February next year, with the second leg taking place on 7-8 and 14-15 March. The 2022/23 UEFA Champions League final is scheduled to be held at Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium on June 10, 2023. Liverpool have fond memories of playing there as they had won the 2005 Champions League final after defeating AC Milan at the same stadium. 

UEFA Champions League Round of 16

PSG got a blockbuster draw at this stage for the second straight season. The French champion's quest for a first European title was ended in March by Karim Benzema’s stunning late hat trick for eventual champion Madrid.

PSG was unseeded in this draw and left exposed to facing Bayern because a stoppage-time goal for Benfica in a 6-1 win last week at Maccabi Haifa meant the Portuguese club topped their group.

Benfica was rewarded Monday with a pairing against Club Brugge, the 15th-ranked team in the draw.

The lowest-ranked team, AC Milan, will be at home against Tottenham in the first leg in its return to the Champions League knockout rounds after a nine-year gap.

Manchester City was paired with Leipzig, and Chelsea was drawn to face Borussia Dortmund in Premier League vs. Bundesliga clashes.

Napoli, the top scoring team in the group stage, will play Eintracht Frankfurt, and Inter Milan is at home first against Porto.

Teams from the same country or who played each other in the group stage could not be paired together in the round of 16.

First-leg games are played from Feb. 14-22. Return games are from March 7-15.

The unusually long wait of more than three months between the group and knockout stages was caused by the World Cup in Qatar being played in November and December.

The congested season meant the six-round group stage started earlier than usual in September and was completed in just nine weeks.

(with AP inputs)