Real Madrid, Man City guaranteed to make Champions League history after last-16 draw confirmed

Actual Madrid and Manchester Metropolis are assured to make Champions League historical past after being drawn towards one another within the final 16.

Pep Guardiola’s aspect secured a top-eight end on this season’s League Section to qualify mechanically for the final 16, whereas Alvaro Arbeloa’s males entered the knockout playoff rounds and beat Benfica 3-1 on mixture.

The last-16 draw was performed on Friday, confirming that Actual Madrid will host Man Metropolis on the Bernabeu within the first leg on March 11 earlier than they journey to the Etihad Stadium for the second leg on March 18.

Actual Madrid and Man Metropolis have already locked horns on this season’s competitors, with the Premier League aspect claiming a 2-1 away victory on matchday six of the League Section in November, courtesy of objectives from Nico O’Reilly and Erling Haaland.

A European rivalry has shaped between these two sides, as they’ve butted heads 15 instances in whole within the Champions League, going through each other in every of the final 5 years together with 4 successive knockout spherical conferences.

Actual Madrid, Man Metropolis to fulfill for record-breaking fifth successive yr in UCL knockouts

Following Friday’s last-16 draw, Actual Madrid vs. Man Metropolis will change into the primary fixture in Champions League historical past to be performed within the knockout phases in 5 consecutive campaigns.

Throughout the earlier 15 conferences, there was little or no to separate Actual and Metropolis, who’ve gained 5 matches every and have additionally performed out 5 attracts. Whereas Los Blancos have scoring 25 objectives, the Residents have netted 26 instances.

Actual Madrid have fared barely higher throughout the earlier 5 two-legged knockout ties with Man Metropolis, progressing from three of these because the 2019-20 marketing campaign, most just lately profitable 6-3 on mixture within the knockout playoff spherical of final season’s Champions League.

Reacting to the last-16 draw, Guardiola emphasised that Man Metropolis’s newest conflict with Actual Madrid will assist his workforce to adapt as they chase down silverware on a number of fronts within the coming months.

“For our membership, as a lot as we play towards the very best groups on this competitors we’ll be taught and enhance and you might be higher sooner or later,” Guardiola advised reporters on Friday.

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Actual Madrid vs. Man Metropolis is “like a closing”, says Metropolis chief Viana

In the meantime, Man Metropolis sporting director Hugo Viana believes that this mouthwatering contest can be seen by many, together with himself, as a closing.

“It’s a giant sport for each groups,” Viana mentioned following the draw at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon.

“We performed towards one another already within the group section. It is going to be a very nice sport to observe and a pleasant sport to be concerned in. In fact it’s like a closing.

“We’re pleased to go there once more and to have this type of opponent and these sort of video games.”

The victors of this eagerly-anticipated tie will face both Atalanta BC or Bayern Munich within the quarter-finals eight, earlier than going through considered one of Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Galatasaray or Liverpool within the semi-finals.

Nonetheless, when requested about progressing within the Champions League, Viana was not eager to bathroom too far forward, including: “It’s too quickly to talk about the ultimate, we should always give it some thought sport by sport. Now now we have a robust opponent to face and we can not take into consideration the ultimate.”

Whereas Actual Madrid are bidding to win a record-extending sixteenth Champions League trophy this season, Man Metropolis are hoping to get their fingers on Europe’s largest membership prize for the second time after profitable in 2023.