Liverpool Draw PSG, Madrid Clubs Clash In Champions League Last 16

Liverpool will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of this season's Champions League while Friday's draw also threw up a showdown between reigning champions Real Madrid and their city rivals Atletico. Arne Slot's Liverpool finished first in the 36-team league phase of the competition to qualify directly for this stage, while PSG finished 15th and had to come through a two-legged play-off tie in which they crushed fellow French side Brest 10-0 on aggregate. The first leg will take place at the Parc des Princes in Paris on March 4 or 5, with the return at Anfield a week later.

The clubs last met in the Champions League in the group stage in 2018/19, when PSG won 2-1 at home after Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in England.

The only previous knockout tie between the sides came in the semi-finals of the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup in 1997, when PSG won 3-2 on aggregate before losing the final to Barcelona.

Liverpool are currently eight points clear of Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League having played a game more than their closest rivals, while Luis Enrique's PSG are unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season and sit 10 points clear at the summit.

With the draw being made up to and including the semi-finals, PSG and Liverpool know the winner of their tie will face either Club Brugge or Aston Villa in the last eight.

That raises the possibility of an all-English quarter-final between the teams who succeeded each other as European Cup winners in the early 1980s.

Villa will face Club Brugge seeking revenge for their 1-0 defeat against the same opponents in Belgium in the league phase in November.

Real, fresh from eliminating Manchester City in the play-offs, will be at home in the first leg against Atletico.

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