City will have been given a tough draw.
The Champions League draw has taken place this morning with Manchester City and Celtic’s next opponents revealed.
The new format will see the knock-out play-off round take place in February to decide which teams will enter the last-16.
The top eight teams in the final Champions league league-phase table are automatically though to the last-16 while those who finished ninth – 24th in the league will head into the play-offs.
The teams that finished between ninth and 16th in the league standings will be seeded for the two-legged play-offs draw, and they will each be drawn against an unseeded team that finished between 17th and 24th in the table.
The seeded team will have the slight advantage of playing the second leg at home.
Manchester City’s 3-1 win over Club Brugge on Wednesday night helped them scrape into the play-off places but their position in the table always meant they were heading for a difficult draw.
Pep Guardiola’s side will take on Real Madrid.
Meanwhile, Celtic also face a tough opponent as they host Bayern Munich.
Elsewhere, PSG are set to take on Brest while Borussia Dortmund will face Sporting.
AC Milan face Feyenoord and Juventus will take on PSV Eindhoven.
The play-offs will take place over two legs on 11/12 and 18/19 February 2025. We know City will host Real Madrid first before travelling to Spain a week later.
Here’s how the play-offs look in full:
- Brest v PSG
- Monaco v Benfica
- Benfica v PSV Eindhoven
- Feyenoord v AC Milan
- Manchester City v Real Madrid
- Celtic v Bayern Munich
- Club Brugge v Atalanta
- Sporting v Borussia Dortmund
Should Guardiola’s men beat Real Madrid they will take on Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the last-16.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa have all qualified directly to the last-16 along with European giants Barcelona, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Lille.
The eight teams who automatically qualified for the last-16 will face the eight winners of the play-offs.
The draw for the last-16 is due to take place on 21 February.
