Champions League: Manchester City, Real Madrid face-off in knockout playoff

By Peter Ochieng

The UEFA Champions League draw for the knockout playoffs is out, and one of the mouth watering clashes to look foward to is the Manchester City versus holders Real Madrid fixture.

The English and Spanish topflight champions will be facing-off for the fourth consecutive time in the Champions League, with the teams under Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti respectively having won the last two editions.

City and Madrid landed in the knockout phase having failed to finish among the top 8 teams in the revamped Champions League, league stage.

The clubs have met in five knockout ties in the past nine years.

Real Madrid have come out on top on every occasion except in the 2022/23 semi-finals, when Man City went on to win the Champions League for the first time in history.

Real Madrid finished 11th while Manchester City ended their league phase campaign at position 22, with 36 clubs participating in the league phase.

Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa finished first to eighth respectively, with the likes of Bologna, Girona, GNK Dinamo, and Young Boys being eliminated in the process.

The two-legged knockout phase play-offs will take place on February 11/12 and a week later on 18/19.

The Man City/Real Madrid winner will face either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16.

Liverpool who topped the table with seven wins from their eight league-phase matches, will face the winners of Paris Saint-Germain v Brest or Benfica v Monaco.

Arsenal finished third and will meet the winners of PSV Eindhoven v Juventus or Feyenoord v AC Milan.

Aston Villa will take on the winners of Atalanta v Club Brugge or Sporting v Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE KNOCKOUT PHASE PLAY-OFF DRAW IN FULL

Man City vs Real Madrid

Celtic vs Bayern Munich

Juventus vs PSV

Feyenoord vs AC Milan

Brest vs PSG

Monaco vs Benfica

Club Brugge vs Atalanta

Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund