Soccity.net writes about the fact that The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) was forced to re-draw for the Champions League due to blunders that were made in the round of 16 pairing of the tournament. The Spanish Villarreal and Atlético were protesting the results, while Real Madrid were against the re-drawing. Before going to the causes of mistakes, check out online sports betting Canada if you are planning to bet in upcoming games.
One of the presenters of the ceremony was Andrey Arshavin, who was the representative of Russia, where the Champions League final will take place this season. With his light hand, the former player of the St. Petersburg Zenit, in whose stadium the final match of the tournament will take place, pulled out balls with the names of the clubs. However, the drawing of lots was overshadowed by several blunders.
Arshavin paired the English Manchester United to the Spanish Villarreal. The opposition between these clubs was hot back in the final of the Europa League – 2021, but now the teams could not be rivals in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, according to the regulations, since they played together in the group stage of the tournament. The error was noticed, and the Spanish team’s rival was changed: Arshavin pulled another club from Manchester – Manchester City.
But the distribution problems did not end there. The head of the club competition of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michael Hesellschwerdt pulled out a piece of paper from Atlético. It was announced that the Spanish club’s rivals could be the remaining teams apart from Liverpool, with whom Diego Simeone’s men fought at the group level, and Manchester United, since he already has a rival. And here there was a snag – the English club had no rival, because minutes earlier, instead of United, City had been sent to Villarreal. Arshavin, spinning balls where there was no Manchester United name, pulled out Bayern Munich.
Then the draw proceeded calmly, and the following pairs were drawn up: Benfica (Portugal) – Real (Spain), Villarreal (Spain) – Manchester City (England), Atletico (Spain) – Bayern (Germany), Salzburg (Austria) – Liverpool (England), Inter (Italy) – Ajax (Netherlands), Sporting (Portugal) – Juventus (Italy), Chelsea ( England) – Lille (France), PSG (France) – Manchester United (England).
However, while the fans of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were happy that the players would play with each other again, while the Europa League draw was underway, where Russian Zenit got the Spanish Betis, Atlético and Villarreal turned to UEFA with a request to re-draw Champions League due to gross technical errors. It is worth noting here that the most dangerous clubs – Bayern Munich and Manchester City – have fallen into rivals for the teams, so the re-draw could have been more favorable to the Spanish teams.
There were four global mistakes that were made in the draw: Manchester United ended up in Villarreal’s opponents’ basket; Manchester United were not in the basket of Atlético’s opponents; Liverpool find themselves in the basket of Atlético’s opponents; Liverpool were not in the basket of Villarreal’s opponents.
The protest was approved and UEFA announced that the Champions League draw would be restarted. The organization itself attributed this to technical problems.
The Champions League draw was repeated. There were no technical problems, and the following pairs dropped out: Salzburg (Austria) – Bayern (Germany), Sporting (Portugal) – Manchester City (England), Benfica (Portugal) – Ajax ( Netherlands), Chelsea (England) – Lille (France), Atletico (Spain) – Manchester United (England), Villarreal (Spain) – Juventus (Italy), Inter ( Italy) – Liverpool (England), PSG (France) – Real (Spain).
The first matches of the 1/8 finals are scheduled for 15-16 and 22-23 February 2022, the return matches will be held on 8-9 and 15-16 March. Check out online sports betting Canada for making your bets in upcoming games.
