Berlin (dpa) – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo meet again when their clubs Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United were on Monday drawn to face each other in the Champions League last 16.
Both football greats are at new clubs this season with Ronaldo back at United after a term at Juventus while Messi has moved to PSG because Barcelona could no longer afford him.
The two clubs last met in the same round in 2019 with United reversing a 2-0 home defeat with a last minute 3-1 at the Parc des Princes. This time around the second leg is at Old Trafford.
United were initially drawn against Villarreal by former former Russian great Andrey Arshavin but that was a technical mistake because the two already played in the same group.
But the Europa League winners Villarreal will still face Manchester opposition in the form last season’s finalists City.
Title holders Chelsea and 2019 winners Liverpool appeared to have kind draws in the form of Lille and Salzburg.
Six-time winners Bayern Munich face a tricky task against Diego Simeone’s Spanish champions Atletico Madrid who eliminated Bayern in their last knock-out meeting in the 2016 semi-finals.
Benfica v record champions Real Madrid, Sporting v Juventus and Inter Milan v Ajax are the other ties.
First leg matches are set for February 15/16 and 22/23 with the second legs on March 8/9 and 15/16. The final is May 28 in St Petersburg.
From this season on the away goal rule no longer applies, meaning that all ties tied on aggregate after 90 minutes in the second leg go into extra time.