The 2022/23 UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw was made on Monday, 7th of November 2022, at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
As usual, it has some mouth-watering fixtures to look forward to.
Last season’s finalists Real Madrid and Liverpool face each other again for a rematch, while Bayern Munich will meet PSG in a repeat of the 2020 final.
Manchester City get RB Leipzig, as Tottenham face Serie A champions, AC Milan.
Club Brugge will take on Benfica, Eintracht Frankfurt have been tied with Napoli, Inter Milan tackle FC Porto, and Chelsea will slug it out with Borussia Dortmund.
In this article, FootballOrbit looks at the winners and losers from the draw.
Winners: Manchester City
Manchester City will play against RB Leipzig and will be more than delighted to have avoided the likes of AC Milan, Inter Milan and PSG.
Erling Haaland will be licking his lips against familiar foes……
Losers: RB Leipzig
RB Leipzig defeated Real Madrid in their penultimate group stage match and threatened to snatch top spot in Group F but ultimately missed out on the last matchday as Real trounced Celtic.
That near-miss has seen Leipzig get drawn against Pep Guardiola’s Man City.
Barring any miracle, it looks like the end of the road for the German side……
Winners: Club Brugge & Benfica
All the top seeded sides will have wanted Club Brugge while all the teams from the 2nd Pot will have also prayed to face Benfica.
Benfica shockingly topped their group that also consisted of Juventus and PSG.
The Eagles eliminated Juventus and snatched top spot away from PSG by the narrowest of margins on the final matchday of the group stages.
Club Brugge on the other hand, won their first four games without conceding a goal but still ended up finishing as runners-up in Group B.
Both sides will be relieved to face each other and not any of the top sides.
Losers: Liverpool
Liverpool have had a topsy-turvy start to the season, with their situation worsened by numerous injuries in their squad.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have now been handed a nightmare opposition for the round of 16 in the form of Real Madrid.
Madrid defeated the Reds in the final in 2018 as well as last season, and are still very much in top form.
Liverpool will have to be at their very best to stand a chance of edging out Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
Winners: Napoli
Napoli thrilled everyone in the group stages, winning 5 consecutive games by crushing all their opponents — including Liverpool.
Luckily, their brilliant performances have been rewarded with a tie against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Should Napoli maintain their current hot form, they will be too much for Frankfurt to handle.
Losers: PSG
PSG agonisingly missed out on top spot in their group, having finished level with Benfica on points, goals scored and goals conceded, while their head-to-head record was identical.
But it was the Portuguese who progressed as group winners due to the superior number of goals they scored away from home.
PSG will be ruing that narrow miss as they have been handed the worst possible draw vs Bayern Munich!!!
Bayern convincingly won all their group games in a “Group of Death” that also featured Barcelona, Inter Milan and Viktoria Plzen — slaughtering all their opponents.
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe will have to be on fire against Bayern in their round of 16 encounter or else……
Winner: Graham Potter
Chelsea had a dismal start to the new season, which costed Thomas Tuchel his job as manager.
Brighton and Hove manager, Graham Potter, was brought in to steady the ship and he eventually led the Blues to top their Champions League group.
With his side still a work in progress, Potter will have been hoping to avoid the big teams like PSG and Inter Milan.
Chelsea eventually got Borussia Dortmund in the round of 16. Dortmund are not pushovers but it could have been worse for Graham Potter’s side….
Winners: Inter Milan
Inter Milan battled bravely to edge out Barcelona to secure the runners-up spot behind Bayern Munich in the “Group of Death”.
Inter’s efforts have seen them get a kind draw versus FC Porto.
Porto topped their group but Inter will really fancy their chances of progressing to the quarterfinals.
What do you think of the draw and which match are you looking forward to?
