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Champions League last-16 draw: When is it? Who's in it? Why are Chelsea heading for Barca showdown?

Tom Adams

Updated 11/12/2017 at 09:33 GMT

The composition of the last 16 of the Champions League was finalised on Wednesday night following the conclusion of a record-breaking group stage which has seen more than 300 goals scored.

CL draw

Image credit: Eurosport

In another record, for the first time ever there are five English sides in the knockout stages after Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham and Liverpool all safely made it through.
But when is the draw? Who is in it? How can you follow it? And why can Chelsea basically start planning for a trip to Camp Nou?

When is the draw and how can I follow it?

The draw for the last-16 of the Champions League is on Monday at 11am. The draw will be live streamed on Eurosport 1 and right here on Eurosport.co.uk and through the mobile app.

Who will be in the hat?

The draw is made up of two pots: the group winners and the runners-up. A group winner will face a runner-up in the last-16. The only other restrictions are that teams from the same country cannot be drawn together at this stage, and teams from the same group cannot meet.
Group winners: Manchester United, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Roma, Besiktas.
Group runners-up: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Chelsea, Sevilla, Shakhtar, Porto, Basel.
First legs will take place on February 13/14 and 20/21, with the second legs coming on March 6/7 and 13/14. Group winners will be away in the first legs.

So why are Chelsea destined to play Barcelona?

picture

Barcelona's Andres Iniesta (R) scores against Chelsea

Image credit: Getty Images

It’s not certain, but Antonio Conte’s side coming up against Messi and co is by far the most likely tie of any to be drawn on Monday. In fact, there is a 44% chance that Chelsea will be facing a trip to Catalunya.
It all comes down to the composition of the two pots. Because Manchester City, United, Liverpool and Spurs all won their group, that dramatically narrows down Chelsea’s options as they cannot face another English team at this stage.
In fact their only three options are Barca, PSG and Besiktas. But there is a further complication. Barca are also restricted in terms of who they can face in the last-16 as they cannot be drawn against fellow Spanish sides Real Madrid or Sevilla – or Juventus, who they shared a group with.
Barca could draw Bayern, Porto, Shakhtar or Basel as well as Chelsea, but a 44% probability is incredibly high for a draw of this nature.
The incredible graphic below shows the percentage chance of each possible last-16 draw. It’s all fairly even apart from Chelsea’s hugely skewed numbers.
Just to recap, here are the potential opponents for the English clubs:
Chelsea: Barcelona, PSG, Besiktas.
Manchester City: Real Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, Sevilla, Porto, Basel.
Manchester United: Real Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, Sevilla, Porto, Shakhtar.
Liverpool: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Porto, Shakhtar, Basel.
Tottenham: Bayern Munich, Juventus, Sevilla, Porto, Shakhtar, Basel.
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