Blinksportsnews247Manchester City and Arsenal will meet their next Champions League opponents in Monday’s draw.
City manager Pep Guardiola is a big favourite with the bookmakers after a 100% result in the group stage. Arsenal, in their first campaign back in Europe’s top competition in seven seasons, are also among the clubs drawn for the knockout stages.
Both are keen to reach the quarter-finals, as the group winners will avoid other big rivals such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. City could be joined by PSV Eindhoven, Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, Paris Saint Germain and Porto. While Arsenal cannot beat PSV, as they were in the same group, they could face RB Leipzig, who were in the same group as City.
Newcastle and Manchester United are out of Europe so are not in any draw, and their early exit could jeopardise the Premier League’s chances of finishing fifth in next season’s new-look Champions League. UEFA will allocate two extra places to one of the biggest leagues, depending on how their teams perform in Europe.
The draw will take place at 11am, with the added incentive of winning the group by playing an away game first, followed by a decisive second leg at home. The first matches will be played in the middle of the weeks on 13-14 February and 20-21 February 2024, and the second on 5-6 March and 12-13 March 2024.
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