Manchester City given nightmare Champions League draw
Pep Guardiola’s side secured a place in the knock-outs with a 3-1 win over Club Brugge but will face a former champion in the next round.
It’s been a season of underperformance for Manchester City but they have booked their place in the Champions League knock-out rounds.
The 2023 European champions needed a result in the final game of the league phase and actually fell behind against Club Brugge, before battling back in the second half. Pep Guardiola will be pleased with his side’s show of resolve but will know that a much tougher test awaits in the next round.
Manchester City will play either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the playoff round, a nightmare scenario for City fans. Both potential opponents have won the competition in recent years and were among the favourites to lift the trophy against this season.
If City are drawn against Real Madrid it will be the fourth successive year in which the two clubs have gone head-to-head in the knock-out rounds of the Champions League. In each of those previous seasons, the winner of that game has gone on to win the tournament. A meeting with Bayern Munich would mean a reunion with City legend Vincent Kompany, who is now head coach of the German giants.
City will discover which of those teams they will face at the draw later this week. The newly-introduced seeding system ensures that Celtic and Man City (No. 21 and No. 22 seeds) will take on Madrid and Bayern (No. 11 and No. 12 seeds). The draw will decide the order of these games.
The knock-out phase draw for the 2024/25 Champions League will be held at 12:00 CET on Friday 31 January. The league phase situation ensures that at least one of the recent Champions League winners will not make it through to the round-of-16 stage of the competition.
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