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Soccer

Champions League round-of-16 draw turns into fiasco after numerous errors

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Former soccer star Andrey Arshavin of Russia holds the name of Manchester United during Monday’s Champions League round-of-16 draw. UEFA needed a do-over after incorrectly applying the rules of the draw. (Richard Juilliart/AFP/Getty Images)
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European soccer’s governing body was forced to void its initial draw for the Champions League round of 16 on Monday after making a “material error” over which teams are eligible to play one another in the knockout round’s first stage.

The errant draw initially paired Manchester United of the English Premier League with Villareal of Spain even though the teams shared a group in the previous round and thus were ineligible to play each other in the round of 16. Manchester United then was drawn to face Paris Saint-Germain, which would have given the world another tantalizing matchup between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, but UEFA voided the draw about 90 minutes after it happened, blaming the errors on “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.”

After UEFA officials corrected the Manchester United-Villareal mistake, the English club’s ball should have been placed in the pot of possible opponents for Spanish club Atlético Madrid. But Giorgio Marchetti, UEFA’s deputy general secretary, incorrectly stated that Manchester United had already been selected and its ball was not placed in the bowl.

According to the Guardian, video evidence of the draw showed that Liverpool and Atlético Madrid also were in the same bowl even though they, too, were in the same group during the previous round and were ineligible to play each other in the round of 16.

Marchetti apologized for the errors when the draw was redone at 9 a.m. Eastern time Monday and said each selection would be audited before it was declared final.

The Champions League round-of-16 matchups, featuring group-stage winners against runners-up:

  • Bayern Munich-Salzburg
  • Manchester City-Sporting CP
  • Ajax-Benfica
  • Lille-Chelsea
  • Manchester United-Atlético Madrid
  • Juventus-Villareal
  • Liverpool-Inter Milan
  • Real Madrid-Paris Saint-Germain

The first legs of the round of 16 will be played in February, with the second legs following in March.

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