Real Madrid will face Liverpool in the knockout stages of the Champions League. The whites were paired in the draw held this Monday in Nyon with the red team, whom they beat in the last final of the European competition to lift their fourteenth 'orejona'. The English were, together with PSG, the most complicated rival that Ancelotti's men could face.
Vinícius was the author of the only goal that allowed Madrid to beat Liverpool in the final played on May 28 at the Stade de France, in Paris. A victory that was added to the one achieved by the madridistas against Jürgen Klopp's team in the 2018 title match in Kyiv, where they won 3-1 in a match marked by the mistakes of the goalkeeper Karius, Salah's injury and Bale's Chilean goal.
Those from Chamartín also beat those from Merseyside in the Champions League quarter-final tie for the 2020-21 season (3-1 and 0-0) and in the two matches (0-3 and 1-0) of the groups of the 2014-15 academic year. For its part, Liverpool dropped the madridistas in the 2008-09 round of 16 tie (0-1 and 4-0) and won the 1981 final with a solitary goal from Kennedy, the last final that Liverpool has lost. Madrid in the maximum continental tournament.
"They are two historic teams. Without a doubt it will be an electric tie, fascinating. We are going to live it with all the illusion. We are going to defend our status as champions. We will do everything possible to return to the quarterfinal draw", said Emilio Butragueño, director of institutional relations for Real Madrid.
The first leg of the round of 16 ties will be played on February 14 and 15, while the second legs will be played on March 7 and 8. Having finished first in their group, Madrid will visit Anfield first and the outcome will be played at the Santiago Bernabeu. The final of this edition of the Champions League will be played on June 10 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
Liverpool is not going through its best moment now, eighth in the Premier League, and Madrid, on the other hand, has been very solid at the start of the season, in which it has only given up two draws in the League while in the Champions League it has tied a game and has suffered a defeat, in Germany against RB Leipzig.
However, there are still three months to go before the round of 16 dispute and, above all, the World Cup remains, which will be held between November 20 and December 18 in Qatar. "The World Cup is going to condition the season. We'll see how the players are going to come back," added Butragueño. The madridistas are the only Spanish team that is among the top 16 in the competition after eliminating Atlético, Sevilla and Barça in the group stage, the latter two now in the Europa League.
Of the other duels in the round of 16 of the Champions League, without a doubt, the pairing of PSG with Messi, Mbappé and Neymar stands out with Bayern Munich, two of the favorites to win the tournament and finalists of the 2020 edition in which they won the bavarian team Manchester City, the other great favorite to be champion, will face RB Leipzig, in principle a more affordable rival.
Check all the results of the Champions League.
