Champions League. "Manchester City" will face either "Real" or "Bayern" in the knockout stage

After 18 matches held simultaneously on the night of January 30, the final table of the Champions League group stage, consisting of 36 clubs, was formed. The teams occupying the top eight positions immediately advanced to the Round of 16 and will wait for their next opponents until spring, while teams ranked from 9th to 24th will participate in the knockout matches in February. The last 12 teams exited the tournament.

On January 31, at 16:00 Tashkent time, the draw for the knockout matches will take place. The main principle: every second position in the table is significant. For example, the team in 9th place can play against a team in 23rd or 24th place (the potential opponents for the team in 10th place will also be these teams). It is certain that they will play against 'Atalanta' or Dortmund's 'Borussia', or 'Sporting', or 'Brugge'. The 11th club will play against a team in either 21st or 22nd place (if the representative of 21st place falls to the 11th club, then the representative of 22nd place will naturally be an opponent of the team in 12th place), and so on. According to the UEFA website, this format has been developed over six years.

During the draw, the balls representing the 23rd and 24th teams will be drawn first. The first ball drawn will be sent to the upper part of the bracket, and the second to the lower part. In UEFA's official graphics, this will be the left part of the bracket (silver) and the right part (blue). Then the positions of the teams in 21st and 22nd places will be determined. This process will continue until the balls representing the 9th and 10th clubs are shown. That is, at this moment, we know that there are only two potential opponents among the teams ranked from 9th to 24th. For example, according to the draw results, 'Manchester City' will face either 'Real' or 'Bavaria' (these giants are also potential opponents of 'Celtic').

There are no restrictions during the draw – representatives from the same country can meet in the knockout matches. For example, 'PSG' (15th place) can play against 'Monaco' or 'Brest' (respectively 17th and 18th place teams), while 'Milan' may face 'Juventus' (or 'Feyenoord').

If teams have played against each other in the group stage, this does not prevent them from meeting again in the knockout matches. For example, Dortmund's 'Borussia' has a 50 percent chance of facing 'Brugge', even though they played against each other in the Champions League in September.

Teams ranked from 9th to 16th are not only considered seeded teams, but they also have the opportunity to host the second leg of the knockout matches at their home ground, which can be considered an advantage. This kind of scheme is also planned for the Europa League and Conference League, apart from the Champions League.

After the knockout matches, there will be another draw in all three European cups. At that time, teams will find out their opponents from the top 8. There, each club will also have two potential opponents. At this moment, it can be said that either 'Atletico' or 'Bayer' will face one of the following four: 'Bavaria', 'Manchester City', 'Real', 'Celtic'.

The potential opponents for 'Liverpool' and 'Barcelona', who secured the 1st and 2nd places in the overall table for the Round of 16, are as follows: 15th, 16th, 17th, or 18th teams: 'PSG', 'Benfica', 'Monaco', or 'Brest'. After the knockout matches, two of them will leave the tournament, and only two options will remain during the final draw (February 21). That is, if 'Monaco' and 'PSG' survive the knockout matches, they will face the two best teams from the group stage in the next round.

The two winners from the 2nd knockout matches ('Sporting' / 'Brugge' – 'Atalanta' / 'Borussia' D) will face 'Lille' and 'Aston Villa' in the quarter-finals.

The two winners from the 3rd knockout matches ('Celtic' / 'Manchester City' – 'Real' / 'Bavaria') will face 'Atletico' and 'Bayer' in the quarter-finals.

One of the two winners from the 4th knockout matches ('Feyenoord' / 'Juventus' – 'Milan' / PSV) will play against 'Arsenal', while the other will face 'Inter'.

The initial knockout matches will be held on February 11 and 12, with the return matches on February 18 and 19.

The Round of 16 matches are scheduled for March 4, 5, 11, and 12. The quarter-finals are set for April 8, 9, 15, and 16, while the semi-finals are scheduled for April 29 and 30, as well as May 6 and 7. The final will take place on May 31 in Munich.

There is another nuance unrelated to the draw process. New players can be registered for the knockout matches, and this must be done by February 6. If a player has already played for another team in the group stage of the Champions League, this does not prevent him from playing for another team in the playoffs, specifically, Abduqodir Husanov can participate in the Champions League with 'City'.