The Champions League play-off draw has been completed, with Arsenal learning which of their four potential last-16 opponents will face each other.
With Arsenal finishing third in the Champions League’s League Phase, the Gunners have progressed directly to the round-of-16 for the competition.
Teams finishing ninth to 24th will have to play a play-off round to reach that stage, with the knockout bracket largely organised by seeding based on each team’s league finish.
But there’s still a draw to add some element of randomness and prevent teams fixing their final result to get a game against a specific team. For example, ninth place faces either 23rd or 24th in the play-off round, but they don’t know which of the two until after the draw.
That draw took place this morning, with Arsenal’s four potential last-16 opponents including Feyenoord, Juventus, AC Milan, and PSV.
Feyenoord were drawn against AC Milan, whilst Juventus were drawn against PSV. Arsenal don’t yet know which of the two winners they’ll face, as there will be another draw on February 21st to determine the pairings for the remainder of the competition.
But it will definitely be the winner of one of those two games, with Inter Milan facing the other.
The round of 16 matches will take place on March 4/5th, and March 11/12th, with Arsenal playing away first and home second. The ordering of the two games is another advantage of finishing in the top eight.
Champions League play-off draw in full
- Brest vs PSG
- Monaco vs Benfica
- Juventus vs PSV
- Feyenoord vs Milan
- Manchester City vs Real Madrid
- Celtic vs Bayern Munich
- Club Brugge vs Atalanta
- Sporting CP vs Dortmund