Latest News: Champions League draw sees Chelsea drawn with PSG, Man City to face Real Madrid
The latest news sees Chelsea drawn against Paris St-Germain in the Champions League last 16 while Manchester City will face Real Madrid; the first legs are set for 10 and 11 March and the second legs for 17 and 18 March.
Latest News: the big ties and key dates
Chelsea and Paris St-Germain are the current holders of the Fifa Club World Cup and Champions League respectively. Six Premier League clubs have qualified for the last 16 but there will be no all-English ties: Arsenal will play Bayer Leverkusen, Newcastle United meet Barcelona, Liverpool take on Galatasaray and Tottenham have been drawn against Atletico Madrid. The first legs will be played on 10 and 11 March, with the second legs on 17 and 18 March, and the final is scheduled for the Puskás Arena in Budapest on Saturday, 30 May.
Chelsea v PSG — a rematch with recent history
Chelsea’s tie with PSG is a rematch of last year’s Fifa Club World Cup final, when the Blues beat the European champions 3-0 in New Jersey. Chelsea’s director of football David Barnard said: "It'll be tough but it holds no fear for us. It's too soon to speak about the final, we should think game by game. Now we have a strong opener to face. " Tactical praise for last summer’s win singled out Enzo Maresca’s gameplan: pinging balls over Nuno Mendes for Cole Palmer to chase, backed up by Malo Gusto, which tore the European champions apart in the first half. Liam Rosenior may try to exploit the same vulnerability, though Chelsea are described as looking weary, their exertions in the US perhaps having left them fatigued.
Man City headed to Real Madrid — another heavyweight rematch
Manchester City will face Real Madrid in the knockout stages for a fifth straight season. The sides' meetings will be their 17th competitive match since 2012, including the league-phase visit in December when City withstood early pressure to win 2-1 at the Bernabéu. City's win in Madrid in December was their ninth meeting with Real since April 2022. City's director of football Hugo Viana said: "It's a big game for both teams. It's like a final, we are happy to go there again. " This will be the fifth straight season City and Madrid have met in the knockouts, with Madrid having prevailed on three occasions, and City have won seven of their last eight in all competitions.
Other ties and the route through the draw
Arsenal finished top of the league phase, the only team to win all eight games, with Bayern Munich three points behind in second. Newcastle are at home for their first leg with Barcelona; Premier League rivals who qualified automatically are all at home for their second leg. If Arsenal get past Leverkusen they will face either Sporting or Bodo/Glimt in the quarter-finals. The route to the final is already known: if Newcastle and Tottenham both progress they will meet in the quarter-finals, and Chelsea and Liverpool would meet in the other half of the draw. Opta rate Mikel Arteta's team as favourites to win this season's competition — by some distance — giving the Gunners a 27. 40% chance and Bayern 14. 28%.
Form notes from the playoff round and team snapshots
PSG’s recent form has been indifferent: they were forced into the playoff round by a defeat by Sporting and a draw against Newcastle in their final two league-phase games, before limping to a 5-4 aggregate win over Monaco. Liverpool have won only one of five previous meetings with Galatasaray; their league-phase defeat in Istanbul in September was part of a difficult autumn, though four of those earlier meetings were more than 20 years ago. Liverpool ambassador Ian Rush added: "I think our advantage is that the second leg is at home. I think the atmosphere at Anfield is second to none and, hopefully, that will come into it. " Galatasaray showed both sides of their character against Juventus in the playoff round, exceptional in the second half of the first leg at home but wobbling badly in the second leg even against 10 men, losing discipline and self-belief; Victor Osimhen may have a physical edge over the heart of Liverpool’s defence.
Bayern, Atalanta and historical notes for Newcastle fans
Bayern Munich lost just once all season in the Bundesliga and are averaging more than 3. 5 goals per game in a system that gets the best out of Harry Kane; Kane has scored 43 goals in all competitions this season, with Michael Olise, Serge Gnabry and Luis Díaz running beyond him. Bayern finished the league phase second behind Arsenal, their only dropped points coming at the Emirates Stadium where they lost 3-1. Atalanta’s comeback to overhaul a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Borussia Dortmund in the playoff round was stirring, but they are not the side they were when they won the Europa League in 2024 and lie seventh in Serie A. For Newcastle fans, any mention of Barcelona evokes Faustino Asprilla’s hat-trick in a 3-2 win in 1997; they have lost all four meetings since, including in the league phase in September, and that 2-1 defeat at St James' Park, though, should give Newcastle hope: unclear in the provided context.
First legs of the last 16 will take place on 10 and 11 March, with the second legs on 17 and 18 March. The competition concludes at the Puskás Arena in Budapest on Saturday, 30 May.
