Champions League draw: Bavaria avoids Manchester duel!

Champions League draw: Bavaria avoids Manchester duel!

Today, on January 31, 2025, the draw for the Champions League playoffs was carried out, which at first glance has rather easy opponents. Bayern Munich meets Celtic Glasgow, while Borussia Dortmund competes against Sporting Lisbon. The encounter between Bavaria and Celtic is considered exciting, since Bavaria has escaped a direct duel with Manchester City and coach Pep Guardiola, which stirs up the expectations of German teams in the European competition. This constellation promises exciting games in the knockout phase of the Champions League, which begins on February 11th, like Deutschlandfunk reports.

for Manchester City, the Champions League winner of 2023, the challenge is greater. You have to assert yourself in the playoff against defending champion Real Madrid. This game already marks the fifth encounter between the two teams in the last six seasons, which underlines the high rivalry and the density of the encounters. Most recently, Real Madrid prevailed in the quarter -finals last season after an exciting penalty shootout against City. The winner of this duel will meet in the round of 16 on the winner of the game between Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, the latter has qualified for the round of 16 with a strong placement in the preliminary round. The first first legs take place on February 11th and 12th, the second legs follow a week later on February 18 and 19, like Sky Sports supplemented.

The framework of the Champions League-K.O.-phase

The confrontations in the first knockout round not only raise the question of sporting results, but also the financial and strategic effects for the participating clubs. The teams that prevail in the playoffs can look forward to the draw for the next round, which will take place on February 21. In the meantime, Bavaria and Celtic have the goal of asserting themselves among the top 16 teams in Europe when they successfully design their games.

The entire backdrop of the Champions League round shows the impressive level of European football. In addition to the encounter between City and Madrid and Bavaria against Celtic, other interesting pairings can also be observed in the playoffs. Juventus plays against PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord meets AC Milan, and Brest faces Paris Saint-Germain. Borussia Dortmund will compete with Sporting Lisbon what fans captivated all over Europe.

The tension in the Champions League is unbroken. Both the players and the fans can look forward to gripping games, where only the best teams will move into the next round. While Bavaria and Dortmund are trying to keep up the honor of German football, Manchester City and Real Madrid's performance is also followed with great interest because they play the role of favorites.