The UEFA Champions League playoffs draw is finally out! The draw, which was conducted on Friday in Nyon, consisted of 20 teams. The winner of each fixture qualifies for the group stage of the European club competition, which makes it a total of 10 teams that will proceed to the group stage to face other European bigwigs.
Premier League giants, Manchester City, who reached the semi-finals of the competition last season for the first time in their history, will face Romania’s Steaua Bucharest. Their Scottish counterparts Celtic will face Israeli outfit Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
This will be the first European fixture for new Man City manager Pep Guardiola (pictured below) in his reign at the English club. The Spaniard won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 and will be hoping to bring the coveted title to the Etihad in the upcoming season. The first legs of these fixtures will be played on August 16/17, while the return fixtures will be played a week later on August 23/24. Check out the full draw below:
The official result of the #UCLdraw... Here are your #UCL Play-offs! pic.twitter.com/FP6Pf3mFxH
— Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 5, 2016
Here is how football fans reacted to the draw on Twitter:
Roma got the worst draw by a country mile #UCLDraw
— Predrag (@AELarissa1964) August 5, 2016
#UCL #UCLDraw PORTO-ROMA diffucult match my idea:Porto win!
— Hüseyin Gazi (@gazidondas) August 5, 2016
Porto vs Roma will be a good game. #UCLdraw
— Kevin Wambani (@kevin_wambani) August 5, 2016
#RomaPorto #UCL #UCLDraw pic.twitter.com/QEki1fgl7V
— Luca Di Stefano ✩ (@LucaMktg) August 5, 2016
Steaua vs Man. City! #UCLDraw
— Football Super Tips (@FootySuperTips) August 5, 2016
Doesn't get easier than that!
some cracking games in the #UCLDraw
— Emmanuel Timothy (@Teemhothy) August 5, 2016
Seriously why do they make these draws so complicated! #UCLDraw
— Serious Football Bet (@seriousbetting) August 5, 2016