December 13, (THEWILL) – After a “material error” that left Manchester United out of a portion of the draw, the UEFA Champions League round of 16 draw has been declared null and void.
At 3 pm local time, the Round of 16 will be completely redrawn.
In a statement, UEFA stated: “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.”
When the initial draw was done in Nyon, there was an error when Villarreal was drawn against United. Because the two clubs had already met in Group F, Andrey Arshavin, a former Arsenal forward, was asked to draw another team.
However, when Arshavin drew Atletico Madrid, United’s ball was not included in the draw, despite the Premier League club being a real possible opponent for the Spanish team.
Instead, despite Jurgen Klopp’s team playing Atletico in the group stages, Liverpool’s ball was included in the pot of potential opponents for Atletico.
Atletico Madrid was left highly irritated by the flaws in the draw, considering that they were subsequently drawn to play the strongest team in Europe thanks to UEFA’s club coefficient system.
And United were handed a nightmare game against Paris Saint-Germain, in which former rivals Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will renew their long-running rivalry.
The rest of the draw went according to plan, with Liverpool facing RB Salzburg and Chelsea facing Lille. Villarreal, the reigning Europa League champions, will face Manchester City. Inter Milan will face Ajax, while Sporting Lisbon will face Juventus.
However, due to issues with the draw, those ties will no longer be held, and the outcome will be declared null and void.
The Round of 16 will be played over two legs, with seeded teams hosting the second legs at their respective venues. The first legs will take place on February 15/16/22/23, and the second legs will take place on March 8/9/15/16.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
