By Hanie Abdul Razak
Neymar’s Parisians are set to take on Messi’s Catalans as the Round of 16 fixtures of the Champions League season 2020-21 was announced at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland today. Ever since his departure from Barcelona for a record breaking 222 million euros, Neymar had been vying for a return to his former club. He got his wish albeit not in a way he expected.
The last time Paris Saint-Germain took on Barcelona in the knockout phase, the latter reversed a four-goal deficit with an astonishing 6-1 reverse leg victory at Camp Nou. Neymar was still with Barcelona at the time having scored two of the goals in that fixture which later came to be known as La Remontada (The Comeback), the largest comeback in UEFA Champions League history.
Lampard who was in the Chelsea squad that won the competition in 2012 return as a manager for his team as they face off against the experienced Diego Simeone’s Athletico Madrid.
The other draws have champions Bayern Munich taking on Italian side Lazio, who has entered this stage of the competition after over two decades. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will be travelling to Germany to take on Borussia Monchengladbach.
The full list of fixtures is given below:
- Manchester City vs Borussia Monchengladbach
- Lazio vs Bayern Munich
- Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea
- RB Leipzig vs Liverpool
- Porto vs Juventus
- Barcelona vs PSG
- Sevilla vs Dortmund
- Atalanta vs Real Madrid
The teams are pitted against each other based on their respective positions in their groups. The leaders of each group can potentially take on the runners-up of every group except their own and vice-versa for the runners-up.