Manchester United were handed another tough tie in the last 16 of the Champions League after being paired with Atletico Madrid in the second attempt at the draw, while their initial opponents PSG were paired with Real Madrid.
United had been handed a mouth-watering last-16 tie against PSG, but only after being erroneously paired with Villarreal in the first instance and then mistakenly left off the list of possible opponents to face Atletico.
After clubs sought clarification from the European governing body on what had happened, UEFA announced the ties would be redrawn.
After being left off the list to face Atletico Madrid in the first draw, United then drew Atleti in the second.
Holders Chelsea will face French champions Lille, Manchester City take on Sporting Lisbon and Liverpool will meet Inter Milan.
Champions League last-16 draw
- Salzburg v Bayern Munich
- Sporting Lisbon v Manchester City
- Benfica v Ajax
- Chelsea v Lille
- Atletico Madrid v Manchester United
- Villarreal v Juventus
- Inter Milan v Liverpool
- PSG v Real Madrid
Elsewhere, the bookies second favourites Bayern Munich take on Salzburg, Benfica face Ajax and Italian giants Juventus meet Europa League champions Villarreal.
What went wrong with the Champions League draw?
Confusion began when United were paired with Villarreal – a side they had already faced in Group F.
UEFA deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti apologised for the “technical issue our draw is experiencing” before asking former Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin to try again, and this time it was neighbours Manchester City who were paired with the Yellow Submarine.
But the problems did not stop there.
When Atletico Madrid were the next side to be drawn, Marchetti said: “For Atletico Madrid, the possibility are all [teams] except for Liverpool, who was in the same group, and Manchester United as they were already drawn.”
But as United’s drawing was a mistake, they should still have been potential opponents for Atletico. UEFA’s head of club competitions Michael Heselschwerdt began collecting balls to put in the pot, but compounded the error by appearing to take a ball from Liverpool’s pot rather than United’s.
Atletico were ultimately paired with Bayern Munich, but given the series of errors, UEFA had no choice but to declare the draw void.
“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,” a statement said.
“As a result of this, the draw has been declared void and will be entirely redone at 1500 CET.”
The initial draw had also seen Liverpool paired with Salzburg, with defending champions Chelsea due to face Lille.
Inter Milan were drawn against Ajax, Benfica with Real Madrid, and Sporting Lisbon were set to meet Juventus.
