The Champions League has handed more heavyweight clashes when the draw for the round of 16 was made in Nyon, Switzerland.
Defending champion Real Madrid’s reward for removing 2023 title winner Manchester City on Wednesday is two city derbies against Atletico Madrid – the team it beat in the finals in 2014 and 2016.
Bayern Munich was paired with Bayer Leverkusen – the Bundesliga leader against its defending champion, who played a tight 0-0 draw just last weekend.
Liverpool were the top-seeded team in the draw after finishing first in the 36-team standings last month but still got a tough assignment as the Premier League leader was paired with number 15 seed PSG in Friday’s draw.
Liverpool and PSG have never met in knockout games in the Champions League or the old European Cup. Their previous meetings were in the group stage in 2018-19, trading home wins in a season that ended with Liverpool winning its sixth European Cup title.
The first-leg games will be played on March 4-5, with the return games one week later.
Also in the draw, number two seed Barcelona were paired with Benfica – which they beat 5-4 in Lisbon one month ago – while Arsenal will face PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan plays Feyenoord. (Aljazeera)