We now know which 16 teams will participate in the knockout stage of the Champions League. The next order of business is to set the stage for next round of the competition. In this post, I will discuss the format and rules of the draw and then go over the results of the draw.
The Draw
The draw for the knockout stage took place in Nyon, Switzerland on 17 December, 2018. The eight teams that won their group were seeded teams, and the eight runners-up were unseeded. A seeded team is automatically drawn against an unseeded team.
Mechanisms of the Draw
In addition to the seeded-unseeded teams, in the R16, there are a couple of other mechanisms that govern the draw. First, teams that competed in the same group cannot be drawn against each other in the R16. Secondly, teams from the confederation or domestic league cannot be drawn against each other in the knockout stage. Once the competition moves into the quarterfinals, these mechanisms are no more and teams can be drawn against any other team that has advanced.
Format
In the knockout stage, teams will play a head-to-head "series" with whichever team they are drawn against. These matchups are called a "tie". Each tie features two matches, one hosted by each team. The unseeded team will host the first match and the seeded team will host the second match. An aggregate score will be kept throughout the duration of the tie, meaning whichever team has scored more goals after both legs will advance. If teams are even on total goals, an away goal tiebreaker will be applied. Whichever teams has scored more goals away from home will advance. If the sides are even on away goals, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played. Away goals still apply during the extra period. If no goals are scored in extra time, kicks from the penalty spot will be used to decide a winner.
2018-2019 Knockout Stage
The first leg of the ties will be played in mid-February, and the second leg will follow in early to mid March. Here is a reminder of which teams were in which pot for this year's draw:
Seeded Teams: Borussia Dortmund (GER), FC Barcelona (ESP), Paris St-Germain (FRA), Porto (POR), Bayern Munich (GER), Manchester City (ENG), Real Madrid (ESP), Juventus (ITA)
Unseeded Teams: Atletico Madrid (ESP), Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Liverpool FC (ENG), Schalke 04 (GER), AFC Ajax (NED), Olympique Lyonnais (FRA), AS Roma (ITA), Manchester United (ENG)
Results
Here are the results of the Knockout Stage Draw. Unseeded teams are listed first, and will play their home fixture first.
Schalke 04 v. Manchester City 20 February, 12 March
Atletico Madrid v. Juventus 20 February, 12 March
Manchester United v. PSG 12 February, 6 March
Tottenham Hotspur v. Borussia Dortmund 13 February, 5 March
Olympique Lyonnais v. Barcelona 19 February, 13 March
AS Roma v. FC Porto 12 February, 6 March
AFC Ajax v. Real Madrid 13 February, 5 March
Liverpool v. Bayern Munich 19 February, 13 March
What's it all means?
If the Group Stage provided massive entertainment and drama, the Knockout Stage undoubtably will continue that trend. At this point in the competition, every team deserve respect, there are no pushovers left. Some teams will be favored heavily in their R16 matchup while others won't be expected to advance. With that said, some of these ties are set up very evenly. At this stage in the competition, teams can be split up into three categories. These includes teams that have a real shot to win the competition, teams that have an outside shot to win the competition, and the series underdogs. I break them into groups below.
Favorites: Man City, Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid
In with a shout: Atletico Madrid, Man U, PSG, Tottenham, Dortmund, Porto, Liverpool, Bayern Munich
Longshots: Schalke 04, Lyon, Roma, Ajax
These designations are simply my opinion based on what I have seen this season. As we all know, anything can happen in football, especially Champions League football.
In regards to the R16 match-ups, there are some extremely intriguing ones. Manchester City and Barcelona will feel that they got the best of the draw, as they have been matched up with Schalke and Lyon respectively.
There are a few matchups that I feel are extremely evenly tilted. The first of these is the Tottenham v. Dortmund fixture. Dortmund showed well for themselves in the R16 and overtook Atletico on the final day to win their group. They also put four past the Spanish side in a statement win and have no trouble scoring goals. Tottenham on the other hand have a completely different story. They started the Group Stage in abysmal fashion and looked dead in the water after the first half of the Group Stage. Hanging on to a tiny bit of hope, they continued to win courtesy of hard-fought performances and late goals all the way up until that final day fixture against Barcelona. Knowing they had to equal the result of Inter, they snatched a late equalizer which was good enough to complete the unlikely turn-around. Spurs are catching fire at the right time, and also playing well domestically. For these reasons, this promises to be a wildly entertaining match-up.
Manchester United and PSG is an intriguing matchup as well. United, having just switched managers, now appear to be reinvigorated. Despite their poor defensive record and lackluster attack at times, they were able to get themselves into the next stage of the competition, and it would be asinine to count out a team with the talent of Paul Pogba, David De Gea, Romelu Lukaku, and a host of young talent. PSG are no pushovers either, having won the entertaining and difficult Group C over Liverpool and Napoli. With vastly experienced Gianluigi Buffon in net, still searching for his first career Champions League title, experienced and motivated defenders like Thiago Silva, and attacking superstars like Neymar and Cavani, they will be disappointed not to advance.
Atletico Madrid have been given the tough task of stopping Italian giants Juventus. These two teams boasts two of the best defenses in world football. Both are massively experienced in the Champions League, each having appeared in a final in the past three seasons and two each in the past five seasons. This really shows like a matchup of two group winners, which was made possible by Atletico dropping off of the top of Group A on the final day of the Group Stage.
The Liverpool v. Bayern Munich matchup is truly a blockbuster. One of the many storylines is the fact that current Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp used to manage Borussia Dortmund, Bayern's domestic rivals. The last time any team other than Bayern Munich won the German Bundasliga, it was Klopp's Dortmund side in 2012. Bayern are always considered one of the favorites to compete for the Champions League title and won the competition in 2013. Despite some minor struggles domestically this season, it appears that they have righted the ship and are back to winning ways. Liverpool also have serious asperations to win it all this season. Klopp's side has yet to lose in the Premier League and is top of the league. Not only do they boast the impressive Salah, Mane, Firmino front three, but this season they have established a formidable defense. The club possesses some of the best outside backs in the world, and are led by Virgil Van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson. Liverpool have only conceded seven (7) goals in 18 Premier League matches this season.
The Ajax v. Real Madrid matchup is extremely intriguing as well. The Dutch side has established themselves as one of the surprise teams in Europe this season, as they came within minutes of knocking off Bayern Munich atop Group E. Although Real Madrid will certainly be favored, Ajax are a young side who have great attacking weapons and an athletic goalkeeper in Cameroonian international Andre Onana. Onana will be tasked with keeping his side in the tie, and I predict Ajax will go for it and play fearlessly, as they are essentially playing with house money at this point. I'm not sure Ajax will be able to overcome Madrid, but I do believe they will show well for themselves.
The Roma v. Porto matchup will be entertaining as well. Roma, last year's shock semi-finalists, still aren't getting much respect. Porto, the only team to win five matches in the Group Stage, are experiencing the same level of disrespect. Both sides will be eager to prove the doubters wrong.
In my next Champions League blog, I will revisit my predictions for who would come out of each group and see how I did, as well as predict the R16 ties.
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