UEFA Europa League to witness a blockbuster clash it's Manchester United vs Barcelona in knockout round play-off

UEFA Europa League will witness a blockbuster clash as former Champions League winners Manchester United and Barcelona will face each other in the knockout playoff round. Barcelona dropped to the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group while Manchester United failed to top their UEL group and it meant the European giants will now have to face each other in playoffs to progress to the Europa League Round of 16.

Manchester United vs Barcelona in Europa League

UEFA Europa League playoff fixtures

FC Barcelona vs Manchester United

Juventus vs FC Nantes

Sporting CP vs FC Midtjylland

Shakhtar vs State Rennais

Ajax vs Union Berlin

Bayer Leverkusen vs AS Monaco

Sevilla FC vs PSV Eindhoven

FC Salzburg vs AS Roma

UEFA Champions League draw

Real Madrid will play Liverpool in the round of 16 of the Champions League in a rematch of last year’s final.

Madrid beat Liverpool in both the 2018 and 2022 finals and the two giants will meet again in February after being paired up in Monday’s draw, which also pitted Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich. That’s a rematch of the 2020 final, which the Germans won.

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)