The Champions League group stage was followed by a knockout draw on the evening of December 18, Beijing time, and this season will be the last of the 32-team format due to a new round of reforms in the Champions League since the start of next season. The rules for the knockout stage draw are that teams from the same league will not meet in advance, teams drawn together in the group stage will not be drawn again, and the teams that finish first and second in the group are automatically divided into seeded and unseeded teams.
After 6 rounds of matchups in the group stage, 8 teams, including Manchester City, Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Bayern and Dort, won the first place in the group and became seeded teams, and the seeded teams are composed of teams from the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga. The second place in the group is Grand Paris, Inter, Lazio, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Copenhagen, Eindhoven and Porto; Obviously, in the second group of the group, Inter Milan and Grand Paris 2 teams are the strongest, which is obviously the team that the group leader does not want to meet, while Porto, Copenhagen, the only two teams that are not in the top five leagues, are regarded as a big package.
Following the draw of Chelsea legend John Terry, the knockout stage fixtures were officially confirmed:
Porto vs Arsenal
Napoli vs Barcelona
Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Sociedad
Inter Milan vs Atletico Madrid
PSV Eindhoven vs Borussia Dortmund
Lazio vs Bayern Munich
Copenhagen vs Manchester City
Leipzig vs Real Madrid
After the results of the draw were released, there was no super duel and interesting meeting between the outside world and the-for-tat vs. Maimang, for example, Manchester City and Inter Milan met again after last season's Champions League final, Mbappe "landed" on the Bernabeu vs. Real Madrid, or Inter Milan met Barcelona again, or Real Madrid's duel, and the "352" system duel between Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan may be the only game with close strength.
It can be seen from the signing that Manchester City, Real Madrid and Bayern, the three favorites to win the championship, are obviously the best; Manchester City drew the worst Copenhagen in the round of 16, and the two teams met last season, Manchester City has an absolute advantage with 1 win and 1 draw, although Copenhagen can beat Manchester United in an upset, but it is almost difficult to climb over the mountain of Manchester City. Real Madrid and RB Leipzig also met again after last season's group stage, with the two teams each winning one at home;
As for Bayern, Lazio must not be able to pose any threat to the Southern Kings, the Blue Eagles are only 11th in Serie A this season, already 20 points behind the top Inter Milan, and the last time the two teams met was in the knockout rounds of the 20-21 season, with Bayern winning home and away to advance. One of the few links to contact is the world's top scorer: Klose, a low-key and hard-working German centre-forward who has left plenty of scoring moments for both Bayern Munich and Lazio.
In addition, the signing of Arsenal and Dort is also a signing, as long as there is no big difference, it is not a big problem to advance to the top 8; Napoli are the reigning Serie A champions and have been in good form recently, and it remains to be seen whether Barcelona will qualify. Real Sociedad beat Inter Milan to win the first place in the group, and it must not be so easy for Paris to pass easily, not to mention that Enrique also likes to work very much.
There is no focus on the matchup, the strength and weakness have become the theme, for which many of the favorites to win the championship are fully hopeful of "loan top 8"; especially Bayern, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Arsenal; and from the league, Serie A is also the most dangerous, Lazio and Napoli are not looking at the good side, Inter Milan's focus this season is in the league, Inzaghi Jr. will fight Atletico Madrid in the Champions League is also unknown, a little careless, Serie A does not rule out the total annihilation.