Champions League round of 16 draw: Liverpool face Leipzig and it’s Barcelona-PSG, live! | Football

Wow. What tie is that. Messi v Neymar, assuming the latter recovers from injury!

I spoke to Neil Ruddock recently and one of the stories he told (which I did not include) was how Houllier revolutionized the club. When the Frenchman arrived in 1998, the Liverpool team was still known as the Spice Boys, and misconduct was rampant. Ruddock played his part in that.

Houllier initially shared team leadership with Roy Evans. According to Ruddock, on a preseason tour, Houllier banned the team from drinking and told them to stay in the hotel. Several members sneaked off to disco dancing in their fancy shirts and took the elevator down to reception. When the doors opened, Houllier was there and caught the players (and Roy Evans!) Red-handed. Evans and Ruddock didn’t last long at the club after that.

It’s a funny story (sort of) but an important point: it changed the culture of the club. In 2001, Liverpool were no longer the Spice Boys, they were winning things again. And there would not have been the success of later years without Gérard Houllier.

If we talk about Liverpool, we must mention some very sad news this morning. Gerard houllier, the former Liverpool manager, died at the age of 73. Houiller never won the Big Ears Cup, but he did achieve European success in 2001 when the Reds won the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup.

He was well loved and respected in Merseyside, where he also won an FA Cup and two League Cups, and laid the foundation for a team that would later conquer Europe with Rafa Benítez. RIP Gérard.

We will not have more Champions League until mid-February. Specifically, the first round of 16 knockouts begin on February 16, with the quarter-finals beginning on April 6, the semi-finals on April 27, and the final on May 29, which will be played at the Atatürk Olympic. Stadium in Istanbul.

Some of you will remember that stadium …

The drawing begins around 11 a.m. M. GMT. If you support the English team and the blurb below seems a bit confusing on a Monday, here are the teams that might be in your way.

Liverpool: Atlético Madrid, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Porto, Sevilla, Lazio, Barcelona or RB Leipzig.

Chelsea: Atlético de Madrid, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Porto, Atalanta, Lazio, Barcelona or RB Leipzig.

Manchester City: Atlético Madrid, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Atalanta, Sevilla, Lazio, Barcelona or RB Leipzig.

Hi. Welcome to coverage of the draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League. First things first – here are the 16 teams that are in the pot for the draw.

Group winners (seeded): Bayern, Dortmund, Chelsea, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, PSG, Real Madrid

Runners-up (not seeded): Atalanta, Atlético, Barcelona, ​​Mönchengladbach, Lazio, Leipzig, Porto, Seville

And this is how everything will work:

• Two seeded pots are formed: one consisting of the eight group winners and the other of the eight finalists. No team can play against a club from their own association or a club from the same group they were in.
• A first ball is taken from the bowl containing the group’s runners-up; the team drawn is placed as the home team from match 1. The computer will show which group winners are eligible to play second place from match 1.
• A bowl will be prepared with the names of the group winners who are eligible; A ball is then drawn from this bowl to complete the match from match 1. The drawn team is placed as the away team from match 1.
• The procedure is repeated for the remaining matches.
• The group winners are away from home in the round of 16 and at home in the second leg matches.