Last night, the 2021-22 Champions League round of 16 draw was held twice in a row, and as usual, the final draw result eliminated some wonderful fixtures. After a draw full of errors, UEFA once again pulled the ball out of the bowl and confirmed some interesting fixtures. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that Paris Saint-Germain meets Real Madrid in a narrow road, and Manchester United must beat Atletico to advance to the next round. So who are the beneficiaries and losers of this season's Champions League knockout draw?
Messi's new life in Paris didn't go exactly as planned. Once considered the centre of the football world, the Argentina international had to go through a difficult transition period at Paris Saint-Germain. However, if there's one more flash of brilliance for the veteran, it's that he's been fantastic in his champions league journey at his new club, scoring five goals in five games. Now, with real Madrid in the round of 16, Messi can continue to fight for another Champions League medal by beating a club he has been playing against throughout his career. And fans of the world's greatest player will no doubt be waiting to continue to glorify his greatness after visiting the Bernabeu.
Without a doubt, the luckiest of the 16 clubs in the Champions League is Chelsea. The Blues failed to beat Zenit in Russia in their final game, finishing second in the group behind Juventus. This puts them in a very difficult situation in the round of 16. They could have met Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or the momentum of Ajax, but they were paired with Lille, who is arguably the number one in the weakest group. Then, when the second draw ended, the showdown between them remained unchanged. The defending champions will now be more confident about keeping the trophy.
After completing the group stage with a complete win, Bayern Munich will certainly fantasize that they have a chance to beat any of the remaining clubs. In fact, when the German giants paired up with Atletico Madrid in the first draw, they were considered the most favored team in the showdown. Then, in the second draw, they met an easier opponent to deal with – Red Bull Salzburg. Despite the fact that the Austrian champions have many impressive players, Bayern knows them very well and the Bundesliga giants may not face too many problems in the next round.
It's no secret that Serie A has been struggling in Europe in recent years. In fact, the last time an Italian team won the Champions League was in 2010. Last week, then-Serie A leader AC Milan was beaten and eliminated by Liverpool B, while Atalanta was eliminated by Villarreal. In this round of 16 draw, There are two representatives in Serie A, and both teams have won quite difficult matches. Inter were drawn to Liverpool, one of the favourites in this Champions League, while Juventus were drawn to Villarreal. The Nerazzurri will certainly be outraged as they initially sided with Ajax in a more favourable draw but ended up winning Liverpool in this poor second draw. Meanwhile, Juventus, who won the Portuguese sport for the first time in the draw, will now face Villarreal, which is bound to make the Bianconeri's promotion prospects even more difficult.
No team in Europe is as angry about the Champions League draw as Real Madrid. After emerging from the match against fellow inter, shaker donetsk and Sharif, the Galactico also secured an impressive tie against Paris Saint-Germain. With Paris Saint-Germain second in their group against Manchester City, Leipzig and Bruges, one is looking forward to the strong talks that will take place in the first round of the knockout rounds. Today, Real Madrid have to face a luxury Paris squad led by Messi, Mbappe and Neymar. The problem was that in the first draw, the opportunity to play against Benfica was given. Portugal's powerhouse itself may be a good team, but Real Madrid will be very popular in this matchup. Now, however, they have gone from being the best signed to being unlucky guys and having to face Greater Paris.
To be sure, any round of Champions League draws is usually unnecessarily lengthy and pompous, but this one was at least undermined by some unexpected, of course, unintentional mistakes by the organisers. Dressed in a spotless suit from Zenit, Arshavin is responsible for picking teams from a bowl. It's an easy task, as long as his colleague puts the right ball in his bowl. However, Arshavin pulled United out of the bowl to take on Villarreal, who drew first, although the England giants were unable to play against their opponents in the knockout rounds. The mistake was quickly corrected, but before a group of people were asked to continue and pretend nothing had happened. The situation got worse, and to make matters worse, United were accidentally missed from a potentially matchup with Atletico Madrid. After a variety of complaints, UEFA finally made the decision to draw again, and many clubs were outraged.