Champions League draw: Real Madrid play Liverpool and Bayern meet PSG

Two of the favourites to win the 2022-23 Champions League will crash out at the round of 16 in March after a box office draw paired Bayern Munich with Paris Saint-Germain and gave us a re-run of last season’s final between Real Madrid and Liverpool.

With the 2022 World Cup due to kick off in less than two weeks, the focus of the game is now beginning to be fixed on international football’s biggest tournament. But there will be no time for a World Cup hangover with the Champions League returning in mid-February with a series of outstanding ties.

While Liverpool-Real and PSG-Bayern are the standout fixtures, there are some finely balanced ties between AC Milan and Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, and Club Brugge and Benfica.

Manchester City and Napoli, two of the strongest teams in the group stage, will also face RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively. So how will it all play out and which teams will make it to the quarterfinals?

– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)

Liverpool vs. Real Madrid

The tie that neither side would have wanted. Liverpool’s failure to finish top of Group A left them vulnerable to facing a big hitter in the round of 16 and they don’t come any bigger than defending champions Real Madrid, who would also have preferred to avoid Jurgen Klopp’s team at this stage.

Liverpool’s mixed form this season make Real favourites to extend their hold over Klopp’s side, having beaten them in their last three Champions League ties. In fact, aside from winning the Champions League against Tottenham in Madrid in 2019, Liverpool’s hopes in the competition have been extinguished by either Real or Atletico in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022, so the omens are with Carlo Ancelotti’s team.

Liverpool have lost five of their last six encounters with Real, dating back to October 2014, but they are capable of ending that miserable run. Real are unbeaten in LaLiga this season, however, and can go top by winning their game in hand on leaders Barcelona, so they are in impressive form and will be favourites to beat Liverpool.

WINNERS: Real Madrid

Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich

A repeat of the 2020 final, when Bayern beat PSG in Lisbon in the French club’s first appearance in the Champions League final. But, having been eliminated in the round of 16 by Real Madrid last season, PSG face a daunting challenge if they are to overcome that disappointment against Bayern.

Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi have delivered in the competition this season, with PSG unbeaten after six games, but Bayern qualified with six wins from six in a group containing Inter Milan and Barcelona.

It will be a huge clash over two legs and the winners could go on to lift the trophy in Istanbul next June. Bayern are as tough an opponent as PSG could have faced.

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