UEFA have confirmed the Champions League round of 16 draw will be redone entirely after a "technical problem" led to the initial ceremony being littered with errors.
In extremely confusing scenes, Manchester United were drawn with Villarreal despite both appearing in the same group, while United were not in Atletico Madrid's bowl despite there being no permutations to prevent them from squaring off.
United had then been paired with Paris Saint-Germain, with Villarreal squaring off against Manchester City and Atletico facing Bayern Munich after former Arsenal star Andrey Arshavin pulled out the names.
Other high-profile mistakes include Atletico and Liverpool being in the same pot even though they were in the same group - and Real Madrid and Villarreal ending up in the same bowl.
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The rules stipulate clubs from the same nation cannot be drawn against one another in the last 16.
Plenty of clubs involved in the controversy complained and requested for the draw to be done again.
And UEFA have confirmed the ties drawn will be null and void, with a second draw to take place at 2pm in Nyon, Switzerland.
A 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.
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“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.“
The first legs are to be played on 15 or 16 and 22 or 23 February, with the second lot of fixtures taking place on 8 or 9 and 15 or 16 March.
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The away goal rule has been abolished this season, meaning ties will go to extra time if 180 minutes of action cannot separate teams.
Featured Image Credit: Image: PATopics: Manchester United, Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain, Villarreal, Manchester City, UEFA
