We now know that all six English qualifiers will be in the last 16 of the Champions League, with their knockout paths becoming clearer.
All six of England’s Champions League teams will be in the last-16 draw on Friday after Newcastle crushed Qarabag in the play-off round to join the five direct qualifiers.
We now know the 16 teams who’ve made it to the knockout rounds, and that has narrowed the possible opponents for the direct qualifiers from four to two, while unseeded Newcastle will now for sure play either Barcelona or Chelsea in the last 16.
Meanwhile, the efforts of all England’s teams mean it’s almost certain there will once again be (at least) five English teams in next season’s Champions League.
In the Europa League, Aston Villa are also straight through to the last 16 after finishing second in the table, with Nottingham Forest almost through after a big first-leg win over Fenerbahce in their play-off round. Crystal Palace still have work to do to reach the last 16 in the Conference.
As with last year, the draws for the play-off and knockout rounds for the European competitions are bracketed and partially seeded based on finishing positions.
The eight automatic qualifiers for the last 16 are paired with the team next to them in the table and will automatically be placed on opposite sides of the draw. This means, for instance, that – as with Spurs and Man United in last year’s Europa League – it is impossible for Liverpool and Spurs to meet before the final after they finished third and fourth to be paired together.
Chelsea (6th) are paired with fifth-placed Barcelona, table-toppers Arsenal with second-placed Bayern Munich, and Manchester City, who claimed the eighth and last automatic spot after falling in the play-offs last year, paired with Sporting after their seventh-place finish.
Each of those pairs then has two pairs of potential opponents from the play-off rounds, again based on finishing positions.
Those possible opponents are as follows…
Arsenal possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen
Liverpool possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Galatasaray, Atletico Madrid
Tottenham possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Galatasaray, Atletico Madrid
Chelsea possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Newcastle, PSG
Manchester City possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Bodo/Glimt, Real Madrid
Newcastle possible Champions League last 16 opponents
Chelsea, Barcelona
For both Chelsea and Newcastle, there also therefore exists the highly unusual possibility of playing a fellow English team in every knockout round from the last 16 onwards.
They could face each other in the last 16, then either Liverpool or Tottenham in the quarter-final, and then Arsenal and Manchester City in either order in the semi-final and final if those two have themselves landed on opposite sides of the draw. Arsenal v Manchester City is a potential quarter-final if they end up on the same side of the draw as each other.
The draw for the Champions League play-off round takes place in Nyon on Friday, with the final draw to set the complete knockout bracket for the last 16 onwards taking place on February 27.
Aston Villa possible Europa League last 16 opponents
PAOK, Lille, Red Star Belgrade, Celta Vigo
Nottingham Forest possible Europa League last 16 opponents
Midtjylland, Real Betis
Forest are 3-0 up after the first leg of their play-off against Fenerbahce. The draw to set the complete Europa League knockout bracket for the last 16 onwards will take place on February 27.
Crystal Palace possible Europa Conference last 16 opponents
Mainz, AEK Larnaca
Crystal Palace are level at 1-1 against Zrinjski Mostar after the first leg of their play-off. The draw to set the complete Europa Conference League bracket for the last 16 onwards will take place in Nyon on February 27.
