Liverpool vs PSG, Arsenal v PSV and Bayern Munich vs Leverkusen highlights of Champions League round of 16

Liverpool vs PSG, Arsenal v PSV and Bayern Munich vs Leverkusen highlights of Champions League round of 16

Arsenal will face PSV Eindhoven in the pre-quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League 2024-25, as confirmed at the draw in the House of European Football in Switzerland on Friday.

The Gunners secured a spot in the final 16 as one of the top-eight teams in the league phase of the tournament. With 19 points from eight games, it was level on points with Barcelona but was ranked third due to a lower goal difference.

“We’ve played against them, they are a really good team. We have experienced it and it will be really difficult,” Arteta said of the reigning Dutch champion.

“We know what we are facing. When you are at this stage every team is really, really good. When the time comes we will be ready for it.”

PSV, on the other hand, closed the door on Serie A giant Juventus in the playoffs, with a 4-3 win on aggregate. The Dutch side had lost 1-2 to Thiago Motta’s men in the first leg but made a comeback to win the return leg 3-1.

Meanwhile, Liverpool will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16. Arne Slot’s boys finished first in the 36-team league phase of the competition to qualify directly for this stage, while Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) finished 15th and had to come through a two-legged play-off tie in which it crushed fellow French side Brest 10-0 on aggregate.

The first leg will take place at the Parc des Princes in Paris on March 4 or 5, with the return at Anfield a week later.

The clubs last met in the Champions League in the group stage in 2018-19, when PSG won 2-1 at home after Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in England.

The only previous knockout tie between the sides came in the semifinals of the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1997, when PSG won 3-2 on aggregate before losing the final to Barcelona.

Liverpool is currently eight points clear of Arsenal at the top of the English Premier League having played a game more than their closest rivals, while Luis Enrique’s PSG is unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season and sits 10 points clear at the summit.

With the draw being made up to and including the semifinals, PSG and Liverpool know the winner of their tie will face either Club Brugge or Aston Villa in the last eight.

That raises the possibility of an all-English quarterfinal between the teams who succeeded each other as European Cup winners in the early 1980s.

Villa will face Brugge, seeking revenge for its 1-0 defeat against the same opponent in Belgium in the league phase in November.

Another standout tie will see Bayern Munich, the current Bundesliga leader, take on reigning German champion Bayer Leverkusen.

Leverkusen, coached by former Bayern midfielder Xabi Alonso, is unbeaten in the last six meetings of the clubs, including a 1-0 win in the German Cup earlier this season. The teams have never previously met in a European tie.

Feyenoord, the 1970 European Cup winner, will play Italian champion Inter Milan, its reward for knocking out AC Milan in the play-offs. The winner of that tie will face Bayern or Leverkusen in the last eight.

This season’s final takes place in Munich on May 31.