Champions League last-16 draw 'entirely redone' after 'technical problem'

The draw for the final 16 of the Champions League has been “solely redone” following a “technical drawback”.

It got here after a mistake involving Spanish giants Atletico Madrid and English sides Liverpool and Manchester United, concerning who the groups have been eligible to be drawn in opposition to.

UEFA mentioned: “Following a technical drawback with the software program of an exterior service supplier that instructs the officers as to which groups are eligible to play one another, a cloth error occurred within the draw for the UEFA Champions League Spherical of 16.”

Three hours after the primary drew occurred, officers tried once more in Nyon, with UEFA deputy common secretary Giorgio Marchetti opening with an apology for the sooner errors.

“As a lot of you should have seen there have been some errors made within the unique draw brought on by a malfunction of the software program which went by an outdoor supplier to inform us which groups are eligible to be drawn in opposition to one another,” he mentioned.

“After the draw, the exterior impartial auditor could not assure the issue with the IT didn’t exist from the beginning and consequently, the complete draw must be redone.”

Manchester United have been handed one other powerful tie within the final 16 of the Champions League after now being paired with Atletico Madrid.

Manchester Metropolis will tackle Sporting Lisbon, whereas Liverpool will head to Inter Milan.

Defending champions Chelsea will face Lille – the one fixture to be a repeat of 1 drawn earlier on Monday earlier than that outcome was declared void as a result of software program errors.

Confusion started within the first draw when United have been paired with Villarreal – a aspect that they had already confronted in Group F.

Groups who met within the group phases are imagined to be stored aside within the last-16 draw.

UEFA deputy common secretary Giorgio Marchetti apologised for the “technical problem” earlier than asking former Arsenal ahead Andrey Arshavin to attempt once more.

On the second try, Manchester Metropolis have been paired with Villarreal.

Atletico Madrid have been the subsequent aspect to be drawn, however the points solely continued when Mr Marchetti mistakenly introduced that Manchester United didn’t have the potential for dealing with the Spanish staff as a result of “they have been already drawn”.

However as United’s drawing was a mistake, they need to nonetheless have been potential opponents for Atletico.

The scenario grew to become extra troublesome when UEFA’s head of membership competitions Michael Heselschwerdt started amassing balls to place within the pot however took a ball from Liverpool’s container moderately than United’s.

Jurgen Klopp’s aspect has already confronted Atletico within the group phases and so shouldn’t have been an possibility.

Atletico have been in the end paired with Bayern Munich, however given the sequence of errors, UEFA had no alternative however to declare the draw void.

Manchester Metropolis supervisor Pep Guardiola backed the choice to repeat the draw, saying: “I believe that is honest. It was a mistake. These sorts of issues generally occur, particularly the gamers and managers, so generally UEFA too.”