16 teams have qualified for the Champions League (CL) knockout stages as they will sqaure off to be crowned the champions of Europe. Barcelona’s exit from the competition comes as a big surprise as the Catalonian giants were eliminated from the group stages for the first time in 21 years. Villareal became the latest team to join the hat as their encounter against Atalanta on Wednesday was postponed due to heavy snowfall. The Spanish side ran out 3-2 winners to join fellow Spanish sides Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
When is the Champions League draw?
The draw will take place on December 13 at 4:30 PM IST. The draw will take place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Teams involved
Altogether 16 teams will be involved in the draw, eight group winners and eight group runners-up. The group winners will be seeded and will play the second leg of home soil. With no away goals rule in CL this season, the CL knockouts will have different fragrances.
Group Winners
Ajax (Netherlands)
Bayern (Germany)
Juventus (Italy)
Liverpool (England)
LOSC Lille (France)
Manchester City (England)
Manchester United (England)
Real Madrid (Spain)
Group Runners-up
Atlético (Spain)
Benfica (Portugal)
Chelsea (England)
Inter (Italy)
Paris Saint-Germain (France)
Salzburg (Austria)
Sporting CP (Portugal)
Villareal (Spain)
No team from the same association can face each other at this stage of the competition. This means Chelsea will probably face one-off Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Lille and Ajax. The ties will be played over two legs with home and away legs. The knockout stage will commence in the second week of February.
There will be four teams from England, one from Germany, two from France, two from Italy, three from Spain, two from Portugal, one from the Netherlands and one from Austria. Nine teams out of sixteen teams qualified teams have won the competition while three teams have been losing finalists. England have the highest representation in the competition, as two of the last three winners have come from England.
