UEFA have decided to redraw the Champions League draw for the round-of-16.
The reason for such controversy this morning stems from Manchester United being accidentally drawn to play against Villarreal, their Spanish opponents from the group stages. Footage then showed United’s ball was left out of the pot to face Atletico Madrid in the next round.
Atletico Madrid drew Bayern Munich and United got PSG in the last pot.
The fact of the matter is United shouldn’t have been in the pot to face Villarreal, therefore, shouldn’t have been excluded from Atletico Madrid’s potential opponents.
A subsequent statement has been made by UEFA. This is what they’ve had to say ahead of a redraw at 2pm GMT: “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.
“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.”
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.
— UEFA (@UEFA) December 13, 2021
You couldn’t make it up. This is all hugely embarrassing on UEFA’s behalf.
There will be questions asked as to why the draw was left continue after the mistake.
Keep an eye on the blog for more updates, or alternatively follow @StrettyNews on Twitter.
Imagine we get PSG again? *Melts*
