Champions League draw to be repeated after technical problem

The Champions League last 16 draw will be repeated later Monday because of a technical glitch, the ruling body UEFA said.

“Following 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, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League round of 16“, UEFA said.

UEFA added the draw would be redone at 1400 GMT, without giving further details.

Manchester United were initially drawn against Villarreal but that was a mistake because the two already played in the same group. United’s name was then seemingly not among the teams who could face Atletico Madrid.

Villarreal were then drawn to play Manchester City, Atletico to face Bayern Munich while Ronaldo’s United were pitted against Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain.

Mistakes at such draw procedures are extremely rare.

The 16 teams were divided into two groups with seeded group winners drawn against runners-up.

However, teams that played against each other in the group stage are kept apart and so are teams from the same national league.

That means that not every group winner can face any runner-up and vive versa.

Apart from the Manchester United v Villarreal glitch it also for instance meant that title holders Chelsea as runner-up could not face their group winners Juventus nor the other three English group winners United, City and Liverpool.