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The Champions League draw for the play-off rounds kicks off today, with the likes of Manchester City and Celtic finding out who they've got in the next round.
Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool have all avoided the dreaded, two-legged playoff round by qualifying as three of the top eight in the competition. Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen, Inter Milan and Lille have also qualified.
Some love the new format, others are less convinced. Several of Europe's elite are perhaps in the latter camp, as they anxiously await the draw
Champions League draw: How do the play-offs work?
Clubs are paired, according to where they finished in the table and the higher you finished, the lower the opponent finished. For example, Atalanta and Borussia Dortmund finished 9th and 10th respectively one of them gets draw against one of Sporting or Club Brugge, who finished 23rd and 24th respectively.
That means that Manchester City or Celtic, who finished 21st and 22nd respectively, will have to face either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich, 11th and 12th respectively. Eesh.
A collection of four clubs then gets to face a pairing of the seeded top eight. For example, Liverpool or Barcelona will face Monaco, Brest, Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica in the next round.
Things will become clear but for now, here's who's seeded as what, and what the possible draws are
Club seedings
Entering the round of 16, seeded:
- Liverpool
- Barcelona
- Arsenal
- Inter Milan
- Atletico Madrid
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Lille
- Aston Villa
Entering the play-offs, seeded:
- Atalanta
- Borussia Dortmund
- Real Madrid
- Bayern Munich
- Milan
- PSV
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Benfica
Entering the play-offs, unseeded:
- Monaco
- Brest
- Feyenoord
- Juventus
- Celtic
- Manchester City
- Sporting
- Club Brugge
The draw in full
Knockout phase play-offs
- Monaco or Brest v Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica
- Sporting or Club Brugge v Atalanta or Borussia Dortmund
- Celtic or Manchester City v Real Madrid or Bayern Munich
- Feyenoord or Juventus v Milan or PSV
- Juventus or Feyenoord v PSV or Milan
- Manchester City or Celtic v Bayern Munich or Real Madrid
- Club Brugge or Sporting CP v Borussia Dortmund or Atalanta
- Brest or Monaco v Benfica or Paris Saint-Germain
Round of 16
- Monaco, Brest, Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica v Liverpool
- Monaco, Brest, Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica v Barcelona
- Sporting, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund v Lille
- Sporting, Club Brugge, Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund v Aston Villa
- Feyenoord, Juventus, Milan or PSV v Arsenal
- Feyenoord, Juventus, Milan or PSV v Inter Milan
- Celtic, Manchester City, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich v Atletico Madrid
- Celtic, Manchester City, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich v Bayer Leverkusen
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