LIVERPOOL DRAW INTER MILAN IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ROUND OF 16

The draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 was held in Nyon this morning and Liverpool were drawn against Austrian outfit Salzburg. After a couple of hitches with the draw, UEFA decided to host a re-draw.

As group winners, Jürgen Klopp’s side were seeded for the draw and could have been paired with anyone of six possible opponents including: Paris Saint-Germain, Sporting CP, Inter Milan, Benfica, Villarreal and Salzburg.

As it turned out, the six time European champions were paired against Austrian outfit RB Salzburg first time round. In the re-draw they were handed a more difficult tie in Italian champions Inter Milan.

Inter finished runners-up to Real Madrid, with their haul of 10 points seeing them finish above FC Sheriff and Shaktar Donetsk. Simone Inzaghi’s side lost home and away to Real Madrid, but saw off the other two sides in the group to seal qualification.

They boast a team of real experience and quality, with the likes of Edin Dzeko, Lautaro Martinez and Nicola Barella being the main men. It represents a tougher task than the initial draw presented.

Liverpool last met Inter in the 2007/08 campaign, with that also coming in the Round of 16. Rafael Benitez was in charge at the time and oversaw a home and away win over the Italians, 2-0 at Anfield, and 1-0 at the San Siro.

That it has been 14 years since these two sides last met, speaks of the struggles both have faced in returning to the top table of European football. They are finally here, with Liverpool winning the league title in 2020 and Inter winning the Scuddetto early this year.

This will be a very competitive tie, with both sides having one eye on tight title races. Inter currently top the Serie A, and are a point above city rivals AC who have been completely knocked out of Europe.

Liverpool played a major role in that and will be confident of putting another Milan giant to the sword. It won’t be an easy ride and Jürgen Klopp’s men will have to be at their best.

It will be a return to the San Siro for the first leg, before hosting the Italian champions at Anfield for the second leg. A reminder that the away goals rule no longer apply in this season’s competition.

UEFA dropped the ball with this draw, and it is the first time I’ve ever seen a draw botched to this extent. They had no choice than to re-draw, after it seemed Manchester United were kept away from Atletico Madrid.

There were some tasty pairings in the re-draw, with PSG vs Real Madrid being the pick of the bunch as Messi faces his long time rivals again and a certain Sergio Ramos comes face to face with his former side.

Elsewhere, Manchester City were paired against Sporting, whilst Chelsea will face French side Lille, in what was the only matchup that repeated in the re-draw. Another exciting clash will be Atletico Madrid up against Manchester United.

Full draw:

• Salzburg vs Bayern Munich

• Sporting vs Manchester City

• Benfica vs Ajax

• Inter Milan vs Liverpool

• Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United

• Villareal vs Juventus

• Chelsea vs Lille

• PSG vs Real Madrid

The matches are scheduled to be played on February 15/16/22/23 (first legs) and March 8/9/15/16 (second legs). Hopefully there’s no third draw!