Why did UEFA make the Champions League last 16 initial draws invalid?
Following a series of errors in the initial draw, UEFA had to redo the Champions League Round of 16 draws for the current season on Monday. According to the first draw, Lionel Messi's Paris Saint Germain (PSG) might have faced Cristiano Ronaldo's Manchester United, however, the match was later ruled void by UEFA after the European football governing body realized its error. The draw was redone before the final list of Round of 16 schedules was released.
The European governing body released a statement explaining what had occurred and declared the preliminary draw invalid.
What happened during the Champions League Draw?
The first tie went smoothly with "Benicia" being drawn against Real Madrid, but the second tie caused problems when Manchester United was mistakenly drawn against Villarreal, a team they couldn't face since they were in the same group. In the end, another team, Manchester City, was drawn to play Villarreal.
However, during the draw for the third tie against Atlético Madrid, another error happened, with Manchester United's ball not being put in the pot, preventing their ball from being physically drawn out. The draw went on to its conclusion, but the errors had been discovered, and social media was ablaze with debate.
Atlético then disclosed that the club had contacted UEFA" to ask for explanations and solutions" for the apparent faults that occurred during the draw. While the Europa League draw was in progress, UEFA issued a statement confirming that a "technical problem" had occurred and that the draw would be "completely redone" in a few hours later.
It said: "A material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 as a result of a technical malfunction with the Software of an external service provider that advises the officials as to which clubs are qualified to ace each other. As a result, the draw has been ruled null and void, and it will be re-done at 1500CET".
What was the difference between the first and second draws?
One of the biggest disappointments of the re-draw was the fact that Manchester United would no longer play Paris Saint Germain (PSG), therefore ruing out a Lionel Messi-Cristiano face-off for the time being.
Instead of Paris Saint Germain (PSG), Manchester United was drawn with Atlético Madrid, a side for which they were not originally selected! Meanwhile, Messi and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) are on their way to Santiago Bernabéu to face Real Madrid
While most of the ties changed, Chelsea's did not; they were drawn against Lille on both occasions.
INITIAL INVALID DRAW
- Benicia v/s Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
- Villarreal Club de Fútbol v/s Manchester City Football Club
- Atlético Madrid v/s Bayern Munich
- Red Bull Salzburg v/s Liverpool
- Inter v/s Ajax
- Sporting v/s Juventus
- Lille v/s Chelsea
- Paris Saint Germain v/s Manchester United
FINAL, CONFIRMED DRAW
- Red Bull Salzburg v/s Bayern Munich
- Sporting v/s Manchester City Football Club
- Benicia v/s Ajax
- Chelsea v/s Lille
- Atlético Madrid v/s Manchester United
- Villarreal Club de Fútbol v/s Juventus
- Inter v/s Liverpool
- Paris Saint Germain v/s Real Madrid Club de Fútbol
The Champions League draw error elicited a combination of amazement, fury, and humor at first, with social media exploding as the debate heated up.
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