Newcastle United will learn our potential route to the Champions League final when the knockout stage draw takes place this Friday, shortly after 11am.
After sweeping aside Qarabag in the play-offs 9-3 on aggregate, Eddie Howe and the lads have broken new ground in Europe’s premier club competition, and will be looking to go even further on the road to Budapest.
Even before tomorrow’s draw, we know that our last 16 opponents would be either Chelsea or Barcelona, with the first leg to take place at St James’ Park, on the 10th or 11th of Match, and the second leg at either Stamford Bridge or the Nou Camp a week later.
But now the play-off round has come to close following last night’s results, here’s the last 16 in full and bracket.
PSG, Real Madrid, Galatasaray and Atalanta all advanced to the final 16 of the Champions League last night, completing the line up as Monaco, Benfica, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund crashed out.
This leaves the final 16 as follows:
- Arsenal (ENG)
- Man City
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Tottenham
- Newcastle United
- Barcelona (ESP)
- Atletico Madrid
- Real Madrid
- Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
- Bayern Munich (GER)
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Atalanta (ITA)
- Sporting Lisbon (POR)
- Galatasaray (TUR)
- Bodo/Glimt (NOR)
Should Newcastle Chelsea or Barcelona in the last 16, then we will face one of Atletico Madrid, Spurs or Liverpool in the quarter-final of this season’s competition.
Atletico looked impressive in their 7-4 aggregate win over Club Brugge, and will be a strong contender to go deep in this half of the draw.
There are a few spoilers in that quarter of the draw however: Bodo Glimt stunned Inter Milan on Tuesday night to knock out last season’s runners up, whilst Sporting Lisbon and Bayer Leverkusen can also pose a big threat.
We should perhaps be thankful we’re in the ‘blue’ path and the not the ‘silver’ path this season, as we now know that both PSG and Real Madrid have made it through to the last 16. We cannot meet either team until the final, and as the last two teams to win this competition, they would be less than ideal to ever face in the final.
Joining the two giants in the other half of the draw are Atalanta, who overturned a 2-0 aggregate deficit against Borussia Dortmund to progress 4-3 in dramatic fashion, and Galatasaray, who narrowly edged out Juventus 6-5 over two legs.
Fans have been debating for days now over who we would prefer to have in the last 16 out of Chelsea and Barcelona.
Barcelona are the more fearsome side, but one we’d be able to exploit on the counter a lot more than we would Chelsea. The trio of Barnes, Gordon and Elanga could have a field day against Hansi Flick’s notoriously high line, but the prospect of playing Raphinha and Lamine Yamal in the away leg is very daunting.
Chelsea meanwhile isn’t as glamorous a fixture as a second leg at the Nou Camp, but Liam Rosenior’s side are struggling at the moment. Our record at Stamford Bridge isn’t the best, but we’d fancy ourselves a lot more at St James’ Park than we would Barcelona, especially considering we lost to the Catalonians back on matchday one.
From there, we’ll be hoping for upsets galore: if Sporting Lisbon can repeat their league phase heroics against PSG and take out Man City, that would be very much welcome.
The draw for the knockout phase of the Champions League takes place at 11am this Friday coming, with the last 16, quarter-finals and semi-final draws all being made.
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