Interesting facts about UCL draw as El Clasico foes unite against Real Madrid while Atletico Madrid face their nightmare

By -
After the awkwardness of having to redo the draw for the Champions League round of 16, UEFA finally succumbed to the request of the stakeholders due to the technical error that occured in the first draw.

The redrawn Champions League round of 16 draws means Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will not be facing each other, yet. (Photo by Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The first draw did saw Manchester United against PSG, a contest which would have seen Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi go head to head once again for a place in the last eight.

However, after the draw was conducted for a second time, it will be PSG who now take on Real Madrid while Manchester United take on Madrid's city rivals, Atletico.

Interesting battles

Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Atletico Madrid

Getting a Manchester United with Cristiano Ronaldo is bad news for Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid. The Madrid club have suffered a lot in the hands of the Portuguese and the signs are not promising of their progress in this competition.

After struggling to secure qualification in the final group game, falling into the same draw with Cristiano Ronaldo will not have been Atletico’s dream but now they will have to come up against a man, who has scored 25 goals and registered nine assists in 35 games against them.

Away from the concerns about the Portuguese, it promises to be an interesting game and a lot would have changed before the games will be played in February next year.

Ex Clasico Players vs. Real Madrid

Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos were once the biggest names in the one of the most heated derbies in world football and on the opposite side, both will now team up for a different team against one of the Clasico rivals.

Sergio Ramos, Angel Di María, Achraf Hakimi and Keylor Navas were all players who have played for the Spanish giants that will line-up against them when they take on PSG in the round of 16 of the Champions League by the turn of the year.

Considered one of Real Madrid legend, Sergio Ramos spent a trophy-laden 16 years with Madrid before leaving in awkward circumstance last summer and all eyes will be on him when this fixture take center stage.

Lionel Messi is another player with history against Madrid. Unarguably the player that helped Barcelona conquered their dominance in the La Liga and was also a thorn for them in the Clasicos.

The seven times Balon d'Or winner scores 26 goals and assisted 14 others in 45 games against Los Blancos. However, Carlo Ancelotti side will take courage from the fact that they kept out the Argentine in their last six meetings.

In the other draws, Chelsea will face Ligue 1 Champions, Lille. Both side met in the group stages of the 2019-20 season in the competition and it was the London club that came out on top, 2-1 in both legs, and will look more confident heading into the contest.

Ajax will play Benfica in a double-header. The Dutch champions toppled a group consisting another Portuguese team and will have to show their prowess against another, when they battle Jorge Jesus’ Benfica for a place in the last eight.

Liverpool, who finished top of their group with a one hundred percent record have been drawn against Inter Milan. Italian champions have previously been drawn against Ajax and surely would have preferred the former option, but reality is, the are up against Jürgen Klopp’s men.

Juventus, who finished above Chelsea on the final group matchday will play against last season’s Europa league winner, Villarreal, who beat Atalanta in Bergamo to book their place in the last 16.

Manchester City will lockhorns with Sporting CP while Bayern Munich will play against Red Bull Salzburg.


Author: Afolabi Kehinde Hassan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ralf Rangnick proffered a permanent solution but United choose to make more casualties with Erik Ten Hag

By -
Image
Ralf Rangnick appeared to have unraveled the puzzle at Manchester United during his short stint as the club's interim manager but the hierarchy did not take heed to his priceless advice. Albeit the German did not enjoy the best of time in the helm of affairs in Old Trafford, Rangnick, who had proven to be more of a administrative minded man prior to his appointment at the club did left blueprints that could have healed the club completely. Looking back and you'll realize it could have been more worth it had speculations of him becoming the club's Director after leaving the Coaching role come to pass. Even in his early days as a professional football coach, Rangnick did not have a reputation of thriving when the stake is high but he flourishes more in an environment that gives him the avenue to build from scratch. The notion was proven truth during his time at Stuttgart, Hannover and even Schalke, where he helped all these teams finesse nightmares into glamour. His appointme
Read more

Doping in sports and the popular culprits in football

By -
Image
Doping in sports is a huge crime as it damages its credibility, and athletes are viewed to have committed an offense when they test positive for illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED). What is doping ? According to Merriam Webster defines doping as the use of a substance (such as an anabolic steroid or erythropoietin) or technique (such as blood doping) to illegally improve athletic performance. In sports, such action is regarded as cheat, and grave consequences always come with it. Not only that, but on the players' part and their safety, as in the long run, such substances have a long-lasting side effect on the health of the players. Why do athletes dope (take illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PED)) ? There are several reasons take illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and it also depends on the type of sports the athletes in question do. The majority of the reasons is to boost performance. Athletes are also tempted when injured and do not have enough time to recover before
Read more

A sign of what is to come but no excuse for Chelsea's late capitulation in the London derby

By -
Image
Chelsea ended a run of three straight home defeats to Arsenal in an enthralling London derby match in the Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening. While many will see it as a positive omen for the host, which is rightly so, it was very poor game management by both the players and the manager to allow the visitors snatch a point later on the night. Arsenal was there for the taking. It was the worst display by Mikel Arteta's side in recent years and despite having a two goal cushion, Mauricio Pochettino's side were unable to see out the win from a very comfortable position. Cole Palmer and Mykaylo Mudryk continue to show signs of finally settling into their rhythm under Mauricio Pochettino, much to the delight of the home support as the Blues were all over their rival from the North for the first 70 minutes in the Bridge. Both players also scored in either half, with Mykaylo Mudryk scoring his first ever Chelsea goal in the Stamford Bridge with a wonderful cross-cum-shot, which caugh
Read more