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The Champions League has been whittled down to the final 16 teams for the knockout phase, as the likes of Arsenal, Aston Villa and Liverpool await their fate in Friday's draw from Nyon, Switzerland.

Manchester City were the only English side to fail to make it to the last-16 knockout stages after the 2022-23 winners were knocked out by holders Real Madrid, who triumphed 6-3 on aggregate.

The remaining Premier League trio can all look forward with excitement to finding out their potential opponents through the revamped Champions League draw for the knockout phase.

But who will they face in the draw?

Express Sport explain how the new draw format will play out using an automated system to simulate the draw.

How the draw works

Unlike previous editions, the knockout bracket has been pre-determined based on a club's final position in the 36-team table.

Now that Brest and Monaco have been eliminated, they can only face Benfica or PSG.

Under this new format, the draw places teams into a position in the bracket to create a fixture, rather than the usual method of drawing one team against another.

The round-of-16 draw sees the top eight teams go into one of two possible positions, which automatically creates not only the fixture but also the full bracket through to the final.

The pairs will be drawn into opposite places, and can't play each other until the final.

The draw starts with 7th and 8th, Lille and Aston Villa, and works through the other three pairs in order: Atletico and Leverkusen, Arsenal and Inter, then Liverpool and Barcelona.

That automatically means the other club goes into the bottom half against Benfica.

As there is no specific draw for the quarter-finals or semis, the last-16 draw will determine which teams can face each other on the road to Munich in June.

Draw simulation

After applying the aforementioned rules, our Champions League simulator produced the following draw for the last-16 knockout phase:

Club Brugge vs Lille

Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen

Feyenoord vs Arsenal

Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid

Benfica vs Barcelona

PSV Eindhoven vs Inter Milan

PSG vs Liverpool

Borussia Dortmund vs Aston Villa

What would it mean for the English teams?

After winning seven of their eight games in the league phase, Liverpool will be confident of their chances.

While they would have to navigate a tough trip to PSG in the first leg of their last-16 knockout game, the reward for beating the Ligue 1 champions over two legs would be a clash with Club Brugge or Lille for a place in the semi-finals.

Awaiting them in the last four would be one of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, PSV or Inter - and many would put their money on the former after powering past City thanks to Kylian Mbappe's hat-trick.

Arsenal would be gifted an interesting reunion against their former player Robin van Persie, who is set to take charge of Feyenoord, in the last 16.

A win against the Dutch giants would put Mikel Arteta's men on the path to face the winner of the all-German tie between Bayern and Leverkusen in the quarter-finals.

And there is the possibility that the Gunners could get an all-English game in the last four, as Aston Villa would be on their side of the bracket up until the semi-finals under this simulation.

However, Unai Emery's side would first need to beat Dortmund and then overcome the victor from the Benfica vs Barcelona match-up in order to meet his former club Arsenal.

While it would be impossible for Arsenal and Aston Villa to meet in the final through this draw, an enticing encounter with title rivals Liverpool - the first all-English Champions League final since 2018-19 - is among the possible outcomes.


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