*Please note, it has since been announced that this draw is void. The draw will be redone at 3pm on December 13.*
The Champions League Round of 16 draw has been made, and La Liga’s trio of Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Villarreal now know their next opponents.
This season’s Champions League campaign has been a little disappointing so far for La Liga.
The Spanish top flight had more teams in the competition than any other – five – but it no longer holds that advantage, with Barcelona and Sevilla crashing out at the group stage.
Fortunately, three teams did manage to progress, with Real Madrid doing so most comfortably, qualifying with a game to spare and going on to win their group.
Atletico Madrid needed three points from their last game to qualify and came up with the goods, while Villarreal needed just a point and managed to take all three to also finish runners-up in their group.
Heading into today’s draw, the three teams already knew who they could face, with Real Madrid being drawn against one of the non-Spanish runners-up, while Atletico and Villarreal were always going to get one of the non-Spanish group winners.
And the draw put Real Madrid up against Portuguese side Benfica, who beat Barcelona to qualification.
Villarreal drew last season’s finalists Manchester City in what is a tough draw for the Yellow Submarine, while Atletico got the toughest draw of all.
Diego Simeone’s men were drawn with Bayern Munich, who are many people’s favourites to win the competition.
Bayern came through their group with ease, winning all of their games.
Atletico Madrid and Villarreal will play at home first, while Real Madrid will play their second game at home.
But remember, there are no longer away goals in the Champions League.
The first legs will be played across February 15/16 and 22/23, while the second legs will be played across March 8/9 and 15/16.
The full draw is as follows:
Benfica vs Real Madrid
Villarreal vs Manchester City
Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich
Salzburg vs Liverpool
Inter vs Ajax
Sporting CP vs Juventus
Chelsea vs Lille
PSG vs Manchester United
Real madrid all the way