Champions League Round of 16: who are Juve playing against? And Inter? Here are the possible opponents

On Monday in Nyon (Switzerland) at 1 pm the draws for the round of 16 of the Champions League will take place, with the first leg matches to be played on 15, 16, 22 and 23 February and the return matches on 8, 9, 15 and March 16. The eight group winners are Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Ajax, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Lille. The second ones are PSG, Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Inter, Chelsea, Benfica, Salzburg, and one between Atalanta and Villarreal, who will come out of tomorrow’s match of Gewiss after the postponement due to snow tonight. Ozdoev’s goal that slipped the Blues to 2nd place in the group giving Juve the first, greatly complicates the path of the reigning champions.

rules

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By regulation it is not possible to meet teams from the same nation. So there cannot be the Juventus-Inter Italian derby or the Premier League match between Chelsea and one of the other three English players who went through to the first knockout round. And you can’t even cross one with whom you have already played in the groups, so no Juve-Chelsea or Inter-Real. From this edition – a fundamental change to remember – away goals will no longer be worth double. So in the event of a 1-0 victory at home and a 2-1 defeat away from home, it goes to extra time and eventually to penalties.

rivals

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These rules restrict Chelsea’s rivals to just 4 teams: Ajax, Real, Bayern and Lille. Three out of 4 would represent a very complicated obstacle for the Blues. Strong play therefore increases the chances that Inter will draw an English player (the squad includes the trio of Premier, Ajax, Bayern and Lille, with one of the latter three which, however, will be removed since it will necessarily deal with the Blues). Juve have only one very dangerous opponent to avoid: the PSG of Messi, Mbappé and Neymar, a discourse which also applies to the other 5 firsts (not City and Lille, who cannot cross the Parisians). Not being able to draw Inter and eventually Atalanta (we hope so), Juve remain the hostile Atletico di Simeone, Sporting Lisbon, Villarreal (if he were to eliminate the Goddess), Benfica and Salzburg. If Nyon’s urn does not mock Allegri’s team, Ozdoev’s 94th minute bolide could have changed the history of Juve’s Champions 2021-22. What if a sign of fate had come from St. Petersburg? Do you know where the final will be played on May 28, 2022? That’s right, in St. Petersburg …