Manchester City and Real Madrid, the champions of the last two UEFA Champions League seasons, are set to clash in the knockout playoffs after the draw was revealed on Friday. Manchester City, the 2023 champs, will kick things off at home on February 11 (February 12 in India), while Real Madrid, the 2024 winners, will host the return leg on February 18 (February 19).

The team that comes out on top over the two matches will move on to the round of 16, where they'll face either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen, both of whom are among the top eight in the new 36-team league standings.

This marks the fourth straight time that Manchester City and Real Madrid have met in the Champions League knockout stage.

For those who might not know, the Champions League format has recently changed, leading to teams finishing from 9th to 24th in the standings dropping into this two-leg knockout round.

Real Madrid ended up in 11th place, while Manchester City just scraped through in 22nd. Once City found themselves in that position, Pep Guardiola and the team realized they would be up against either No. 11 Madrid or No. 12 Bayern Munich.

Bayern Munich will be facing 21st-placed Celtic in the knockout playoffs.

The matchups for the Round of 16 will take place on February 21

UEFA is set to reveal the Round of 16 matchups on February 21. This new knockout format lets teams from the same country go head-to-head before the quarterfinals, something that hasn't happened in the last 20 years.

Paris Saint-Germain will face off against their French counterpart Brest, and Monaco will go up against Benfica.

Complete lineup of Champions League playoff matches:

Club Brugge vs Atalanta

Sporting vs Borussia Dortmund

Manchester City vs Real Madrid

Celtic vs Bayern Munich

Juventus vs PSV Eindhoven

Feyenoord vs AC Milan

Brest vs Paris St Germain

AS Monaco vs Benfica

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