Champions League Round of 16 draw: Preview and pots

The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 draw takes place on Monday, with all of the remaining teams in the competition finding out who they’ll play come this spring.

Last week saw the conclusion of the group stage, and all of the big teams that you’d expect to see remaining at this stage have made it through. The only thing approaching an upset in the group stage was Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen advancing ahead of Tottenham Hotspur, and as far as Champions League group stage upsets go, that one was very minor.

For the first time this season, the champions of the best seven leagues in Europe and the reigning Champions League winners were handed the top eight seeds in the group stage draw. That produced a much different looking group stage than normal and set up a scenario where the group runners-up look almost as strong as the winners. The likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain are in the runners-up pot.

This is the last phase of the competition that has restrictions on the draw. The group winners will be seeded and cannot draw each other, while the group runners-up also cannot draw each other. Teams can’t be drawn against the team they faced off against in the group stage, or teams from their country. For example, Barcelona cannot be drawn against any of Man City, Real Madrid or Sevilla in the Round of 16.

Here are the pots.

Group A: Arsenal

Group B: Napoli

Group C: Barcelona

Group D: Atlético Madrid

Group E: AS Monaco

Group F: Borussia Dortmund

Group G: Leicester City

Group H: Juventus

Group A: Paris Saint-Germain

Group B: S.L. Benfica

Group C: Manchester City

Group D: Bayern Munich

Group E: Bayer Leverkusen

Group F: Real Madrid

Group G: FC Porto

Group H: Sevilla

The draw gets underway just after 6 a.m. ET, 12 p.m. local time in Nyon, Switzerland. First legs of the resulting ties will be played on February 14, 15, 21, and 22. Second legs take place on March 7, 8, 14, and 15.