Bayern Munich’s potential UEFA Champions League Round of 16 opponents

Following Bayern Munich’s 3-2 loss to FC Rostov in the UEFA Champion League can no longer win their group and must settle for second place. Of course, this means that the route to the Final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff starts off far more daunting than necessary. It’s good that these games won’t be played until February and March.

Is a trip to Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, London, or Turin in Bayern’s future?

Group A

Paris Saint-Germain - 11 points
Arsenal - 11 points

Paris Saint-Germain will win Group A over Arsenal as long as they match the Gunners result in the final match day. This is due to the fact that PSG hold the fourth tiebreaker over Arsenal, having scored more goals away from home in the two matches between the two sides. PSG will host Ludogorets Razgard in the final matchday, while Arsenal visit FC Basel.

Neither PSG nor Arsenal would be preferred from a Bayern perspective.

Group B

Napoli - 8 points
Benfica - 8 points

Napoli holds the tiebreaker between the team clubs, so the only way that Benfica will win the group is with a victory.

Bayern would be heavy favorites to advance to the Quarterfinals against either of these teams.

Group C

Barcelona

This would be the absolute worst case scenario. On Bayern’s current form, it would take a miracle to knock Barcelona out of the Champions League. Every other potential draw would be preferable to this.

Group D

Atletico Madrid

Luckily, Bayern can’t draw Atletico Madrid in the Round of 16 since they were in the same group.

Group E

Monaco

Who would’ve thought that Monaco would have secured first place in a group with Tottenham and Bayer Leverkusen with a game to spare? This would be an acceptable draw for Bayern.

Group F

Borussia Dortmund - 13 points
Real Madrid - 11 points

These two will play each other on the final matchday. Real Madrid must beat Borussia Dortmund to win the group.

If Borussia Dortmund win the group, this doesn’t matter. However, the only club Bayern wants to play less than Real Madrid is Barcelona. This would be a real bad, no good draw.

Group G

Leicester City

This would definitely be one of the best draws possible for Bayern Munich. Leicester had the easiest group stage of all first place teams and are hovering just north of the relegation zone in the Premier League.

Group H

Juventus - 11 points
Sevilla - 10 points

Juventus should win this group, as they have a home match against Dinamo Zagreb while Sevilla has to travel to Lyon on the final matchday.

Neither one of these choices is appetizing to digest, but is it wrong to think that Sevilla might be a worse opponent for Bayern than Juventus?