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    HomeSportArsenal to face Porto, Real Madrid get RB Leipzig in Champions League...

    Arsenal to face Porto, Real Madrid get RB Leipzig in Champions League last-16 draw

    Arsenal will face Porto in the last-16 of the Champions League, while Real Madrid have been drawn against RB Leipzig.

    Reigning Champions League winners Manchester City, meanwhile, will play Copenhagen.

    There were some big teams missing from Monday’s draw, though, with Manchester United side finishing bottom of their Champions League group behind Bayern Munich, Copenhagen and Galatasaray, meaning they have no continental football in the second half of the season.

    Fellow Premier League side Newcastle United were also knocked out of Europe altogether, finishing last in their group behind Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan.

    This group stage will be the last of its kind, with UEFA introducing a new format styled on the so-called ‘Swiss model’ from next season. That will see one big group replace the existing format of eight groups of four. Each team will play eight group matches (up from six), with half at home and half away. The top eight sides in the expanded 36-team league (up from 32) will qualify automatically for the knockout stage and those finishing in ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged play-off to determine who reaches the last-16 of the competition.

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    Champions League last-16 draw in full

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    What were the rules for the draw?

    The eight teams that won their Champions League groups were seeded in the last-16 draw, while the eight runners-up were unseeded.

    Each tie consists of one seeded team and one unseeded one.

    This is the final stage of the competition where teams from the same country could not be drawn against each other. For example, Bayern Munich who won Group A, were prevented from drawing RB Leipzig, who came second in Group G, in the last 16. Teams also could not be drawn against sides from their group. For example, Arsenal, the Group B winners, could not have drawn PSV, who finished behind them.

    From the quarter-finals onwards, those restrictions are lifted.

    When are the last-16 ties?

    The first and second legs will be played across two weeks each.

    • First legs: February 13/14 and February 20/21
    • Second legs: March 5/6 and March 12/13

    What about the rest of the Champions League?

    It may still just about be 2023 but many teams will have one eye on their potential schedules for the rest of the season, ahead of June’s final at London’s Wembley Stadium.

    • Quarter-final and semi-final draw: March 15, 2024
    • Quarter-finals: April 9/10 and 16/17, 2024
    • Semi-finals: April 30/May 1 and May 7/8, 2024
    • Final: June 1, 2024

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    How badly have Man Utd and Newcastle’s exits hurt England’s chance of a fifth Champions League place?

    (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

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