November 24, 2024

Union of European Football Association (UEFA) have confirmed that the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League will be redone at 14:00 GMT, after a technical mistake.

Manchester United’s name was pulled out in error as opponents for Villarreal, but the Reds are not eligible to face the Spanish club after playing them in the group stage.

Ralf Rangnick’s men were then pitted against Paris Saint-Germain later in the draw, the final pairing out, but after an investigation, UEFA have deemed that the process had been compromised and must be repeated.

“Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League round of 16,” confirmed UEFA in an official statement.

“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET [14:00 GMT].

It will be announced to the general public as soon as the new Knockout Stage fixtures draw drops.

As a seeded team, United will be at home in the second leg on 8/9/15/16 March with kick-off at 20:00 GMT. The first legs are due to be played on 15/16/22/23 February, with the same start time.

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