Sorteo De La Champions narrows Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético options ahead of knockout draw

The sorteo de la champions on February 26 at 12: 00 has defined the only two possible opponents for each of Spain’s big three as the knockout phase approaches. The draw not only pairs teams for the round of 16 but also lays out the bracket that leads to the final in Budapest on May 30.

Sorteo De La Champions: matchups for Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético

Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid now know the two teams they could face in the round of 16. Real Madrid will be drawn against either Manchester City or Sporting CP; Barcelona will meet Paris Saint-Germain or Newcastle United; and Atlético faces either Liverpool or Tottenham Hotspur. Those pairings are a direct result of club finishing positions in the league phase and the playoff results that produced the remaining eight teams.

Because Barcelona finished in a position that grants them the second leg at home, only the Blaugrana will have the advantage of closing the tie at Camp Nou. Both Real Madrid and Atlético qualified through the playoff route and therefore must play the return leg away, a condition that raises the practical difficulty of their ties and could influence tactical choices across the two legs.

Playoff form gives additional context to the possible ties. Newcastle advanced emphatically from their playoff, winning the first leg 6-1 and following with a 3-2 win in the return, while PSG survived a tighter duel with AS Monaco, progressing 5-4 on aggregate after a 3-2 win in Monaco and decisive goals from Marquinhos and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the second leg. PSG’s path was complicated by an early two-goal deficit in the first leg and by injuries within their squad that affected selection.

Octavos schedule and the road to Budapest

The draw at 12: 00 on February 26 also establishes the bracket for the remainder of the tournament, fixing who will meet whom from the round of 16 through to the final on May 30 in Budapest. The round-of-16 ties are set to be played across two mid-March windows: the first legs on March 10–11 and the second legs on March 17–18. That compact timetable compresses recovery and preparation windows, making the location of the second leg—home or away—a tangible competitive factor.

The condition that both Real Madrid and Atlético must finish their ties away stems directly from their having come through the playoff round: playoff entrants are drawn as the lower-seeded side for the pairings and therefore play the second leg on the road. The immediate effect is clear — home advantage in the decisive match will be reserved for other clubs, most notably Barcelona if they draw Newcastle or PSG.

What makes this notable is how the draw consolidates both sporting and logistical pressures: a limited number of match dates, the need to manage player fitness across domestic and European fixtures, and the unequal distribution of home advantage shaped by earlier phase results. Avoiding heavyweight opponents such as Manchester City, PSG or Liverpool remains a priority for clubs that want a smoother path through the knockout rounds.

Implications for key clubs and finishing positions

For Real Madrid, a potential repeat tie with Manchester City would carry historical context, given four consecutive meetings in recent seasons and a City victory at the Bernabéu earlier this campaign. Sporting CP, though less heralded, emerged as a surprise top-eight team in the league phase and are Portuguese champions, offering a different tactical challenge.

Barcelona’s draw options contrast a reigning European champion in PSG, whose attacking talent can be formidable even when inconsistently threatened by injuries, with a Newcastle side that delivered a dominant playoff first leg and that already faced Barcelona in the league phase. Atlético’s possible opponents present a sharp divergence: Liverpool, the Premier League titleholder, versus a Tottenham side facing serious sporting difficulties, making Tottenham the more favorable draw on paper.

The bracket established at the sorteo de la champions will shape strategic priorities for the clubs over the next three months as they balance domestic leagues and the knockout calendar en route to the late-May final in Budapest.