When is the Champions League draw? Man City to learn play-off opponents and Real Madrid or Bayern Munich could await
The final League Phase games of the revamped Champions League have been played and the play-offs teams are set ahead of this week's draw.
Liverpool and Barcelona were the only two sides guaranteed to be through to the last 16 with one game to go.
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But six other teams joined them on Wednesday night, including Arsenal and Aston Villa who won their last games.
From ninth down to 24th, the teams have had to settle for the lottery of the play-offs and they'll be part of Friday's draw.
One of the teams involved will be Manchester City who saved themselves from elimination with a 3-1 win against Brugge.
Joining City will be some more of Europe's elite including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain.
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Champions League draw: Date and start time
The Champions League knockout phase play-off draw will be held on Friday, January 31.
It will take place at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
Proceedings will get started at 12pm local time which is 11am in the UK.
Fans can tune in to the draw live on the UEFA.com website - more details are available .
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The draw will also be shown on UEFA’s YouTube as well as on TNT Sports.
talkSPORT and marvelbet369.com will also have all the build-up and reaction.
To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.
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Champions League draw: How does it work?
The draw will include the teams that finished from ninth down to 24th in the league.
Those 16 teams will be separated into two groups of eight, with teams ranked ninth to 16th being seeded and teams 17th to 24th unseeded.
Seeded sides will then be paired up, while it’s the same in the unseeded group of teams.
So, 24th and 23rd will form a pair, 22nd and 21st will form a pair and so on…
The pairs will be placed in a total of eight bowls which will correspond to their league phase rankings, so 23rd and 24th-ranked teams will be in the bowl marked 23/24.
The draw will begin with the unseeded teams, with a ball taken from their corresponding bowl and that time being placed on one side of the bracket.
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In this new format, there is a blue bracket and a silver bracket, and pairs will already be given predetermined places (as shown by the image above).
The first teams drawn from the unseeded bowls will be on the silver side and the second takes a place on the blue side.
Once all pairs from 23rd and 24th to 17th and 18th and drawn and in their places in the play-off bracket, the draw continues with the seeded teams.
In the same fashion, the seeded teams will be drawn from their corresponding bowls and placed into their predetermined places, with the first drawn in silver and second in blue.
The draw will finish with the seeded teams who finished ninth or tenth being drawn and slotting in to face the 23rd or 24th-placed finishers respectively.
Seeded clubs will play the first leg of their play-off away and the second leg at home.
Knockout phase play-off dates
First legs
- Tuesday, February 11th
- Wednesday, February 12th
Second legs
- Tuesday, February 18th
- Wednesday, February 19th
Champions League draw: Teams
As mentioned, the match-ups have been predetermined so the teams know who they could face.
And Man City have been handed a nightmare draw with either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich awaiting them in the play-offs.
- Monaco or Brest v Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica
- Sporting CP or Club Brugge vs Atalanta or Borussia Dortmund
- Celtic or Manchester City vs Real Madrid or Bayern Munich
- Feyenoord or Juventus vs Milan or PSV Eindhoven
- Juventus or Feyenoord vs PSV Eindhoven or Milan
- Manchester City or Celtic vs Bayern Munich or Real Madrid
- Club Brugge or Sporting CP vs Borussia Dortmund or Atalanta
- Brest or Monaco vs Benfica or Paris Saint-Germain
Meanwhile, Liverpool and Arsenal also know who they will face in the Round of 16.
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Liverpool will take on one of Monaco, Brest, Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica.
And Arsenal will face one of Juventus, Feyenoord, PSV Eindhoven or AC Milan.
Champions League table
| Pos | Club | MP | W | D | L | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Liverpool | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 21 |
| 2 | Barcelona | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 19 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 13 | 19 |
| 4 | Inter | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 19 |
| 5 | Atletico Madrid | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 18 |
| 6 | Leverkusen | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 16 |
| 7 | LOSC | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 16 |
| 8 | Aston Villa | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 16 |
| 9 | Atalanta | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 15 |
| 10 | Dortmund | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 |
| 11 | Real Madrid | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 15 |
| 12 | Bayern | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 15 |
| 13 | Milan | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| 14 | PSV | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 |
| 15 | PSG | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 13 |
| 16 | Benfica | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| 17 | Monaco | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 13 |
| 18 | Brest | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | -1 | 13 |
| 19 | Feyenoord | 8 | 4 | 1 | 3 | -3 | 13 |
| 20 | Juventus | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| 21 | Celtic | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | -1 | 12 |
| 22 | Man City | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 11 |
| 23 | Sporting | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| 24 | Club Brugge | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | -4 | 11 |
| 25 | Dinamo Zagreb | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | -7 | 11 |
| 26 | VfB Stuttgart | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -4 | 10 |
| 27 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | -8 | 7 |
| 28 | Bologna | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -5 | 6 |
| 29 | Crvena zvezda | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -9 | 6 |
| 30 | SK Strum Graz | 8 | 2 | 0 | 6 | -9 | 6 |
| 31 | Sparta Praha | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | -14 | 4 |
| 32 | RB Leipzig | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -7 | 3 |
| 33 | Girona | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -8 | 3 |
| 34 | RB Salzburg | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | -22 | 3 |
| 35 | Slovan Bratislava | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -20 | 0 |
| 36 | Young Boys | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8 | -21 | 0 |
9 to 24 entered into play-off
25 to 36 eliminated
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