The 2021/22 Champions League round of 16 draws was one to remember for the football fraternity. It was the first time in UEFA history that a draw had to be redone due to both technical and human error in an otherwise fairly simple procedure. Atletico Madrid and Villarreal officially lodged complaints following the draw and with the organization under extreme pressure decided to call the initial draw void.
The void draw
According to rules, clubs from the same country cannot be matched with each other at this stage of the competition and also teams are already paired in the group stages. But confusion aroused when Villarreal was paired with Manchester United, falling into the second category, leading the Spanish team to draw Manchester City instead. Things got even weirder when United wasn't set in the pot to be a possible opposition for Atletico Madrid who got a fixture with Bayern Munich instead. The software at that time has mistakenly taken Manchester United as drawn. It escaped everyone's eye and the procedure ended with the Red Devils drawing PSG in a blockbuster clash. As one section of social media got ready for a reunion of two global superstars, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, others pointed out the bizarre mistake that was made.
Soon clubs got involved in a discussion with the board demanding a redraw, something not happened before, forcing UEFA to release a statement of the mistake and perform the draw once again. Real Madrid drew SL Benfica from the first pot pairing in the initial and the mistake occurred right after so they wanted to keep theirs intact. However, the whole thing was deemed null and void causing the record European champions to land a game with Paris Saint Germain instead.
Official draw
Three hours after the initial draw, the second and official draw took place without a hitch. One draw that stood from the first one was Chelsea's matchup with French league winners Lille. A total of eight different leagues are represented in the draw with Salzburg becoming the first Austrian team to advance to this stage of the competition. Chelsea's match with Lille only stood in both the draws in another surprising way. Tournaments regulars like Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund but most unlikely FC Barcelona plummeted to the Europa League knockout stage on the very last matchday of the group stages earlier this month. Also, the away goal rule that existed in European competitions since 1965 is now scrapped. Hence, any tie ending level over two legs after 90 mins will go straight into extra time.
1) FC Salzburg vs Bayern Munich
2) Sporting CP vs Manchester City
3) SL Benfica vs Ajax
4) Chelsea vs Lille
5) Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United
6) Villarreal vs Juventus
7) Inter Milan vs Liverpool
8) Paris Saint Germain vs Real Madrid
