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It’s official! Bayern Munich will face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16. This’ll be the second year in a row where Bayern have faced Diego Simeone’s men in the UCL, after getting them in the group stages last season.
This is not a good draw, but it isn’t the worst possible thing that could’ve happened. Getting Chelsea would’ve probably been a worse draw for Bayern. Still, Atletico are insanely tough opponents, and Nagelsmann has a tough task on his hands. They added Antoine Greizmann back to their team this summer, on top of already having the likes of Joao Felix and Luis Suarez. Oh yeah, and they have Diego Simeone, a specialist at grinding down superior teams in UCL knockout games.
With the first game set to take place at the Wanda Metropolitano in February, Bayern have time to prepare — hopefully figuring out a plan to get more service to Robert Lewandowski and break down parked buses.
This and PSG vs Manchester United are probably the most even matchups in the whole Round of 16, with all the rest being horrendously lopsided. Most of those ties already have one team being overwhelming favorites. Bayern will also go into the Atletico tie as favorites, but the game will worry some fans. Hopefully, our UCL journey does not meet an ignominious end at the Round of 16, like what happened to Liverpool two seasons ago.
Poll
What do you think of the draw?
This poll is closed
-
21%
NOOOO WHY
(104 votes) -
78%
YEAH BRING IT ON
(378 votes)
Update: Could there be a redraw?
Huge controversy on mistakes made by UEFA during the drawing process. Our writer RLD summed it up in the comments:
It appears that UEFA made technical errors during the draw that could have had an impact on the outcome.
They are summarized as follows:
1) They added Manchester United to Villarreal’s draw pot, even though they could not be paired due to being in the same group.
2) They added Liverpool to Atletico Madrid’s draw pot, even though they could not be paired due to being in the same group.
3) They failed to add Manchester United to Atletico Madrid’s draw pot, even though that was still a valid draw pairing.
Various news organizations are waiting on official word on what if anything UEFA are going to do to correct this.
Meanwhile ...
Next question is whether clubs affected - which would directly be United, PSG, Bayern, Atletico, but by extension most of the 16 - want to lodge a complaint.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) December 13, 2021
Update #2
UEFA might be close to repeating the draw ...
JUST IN: UEFA is close to agreeing to repeat the draw. Very viable option at this point due to the botch seen before and thanks to the complaints of several teams. We will see if it is confirmed #mufc #mujournal
— United Journal (@theutdjournal) December 13, 2021
[@RodrigoFaez]
Update #4
The draw is being redone, lads! Much ado over nothing.
As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.
— UEFA (@UEFA) December 13, 2021
Also lol@UEFA for throwing an “external software provider” under the bus.
Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) December 13, 2021
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