UEFA Cancels Round Of 16 Champions League Draw (See Reason)

UEFA has cancelled the Round of 16 Champions League draws held earlier after a mix-up.

Naija News reports that the error was made during the draw regarding Manchester United, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid.

Manchester United were not seeded as group winners and were put in the pot of potential opponents for Atletico Madrid, who instead got Bayern Munich.

United were first erroneously drawn against Villarreal, a side they had already been paired with in Group F.

Also, Liverpool were mistakenly put into the pot to potentially face Atletico despite playing them in the group stages.

In a statement on Monday afternoon, UEFA said the error was caused by a technical problem with the software of an external service provider used during the draws.

The body stated that the draw has been declared void and a redraw will take place by 2pm UK time.

The statement read: “Following a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other, a material error occurred in the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET (2pm UK time).”