Liverpool will face Inter Milan in the last-16 of the UEFA Champions League.
What happened to Red Bull Salzburg? Jürgen Klopp thought he had been drawn against the side from Austria, but this first set of fixtures will forever go down as a phantom draw, after a technical hitch at UEFA prompted a do-over.
The first time around, Manchester United were drawn against Villarreal, with whom they had shared a group. This error was swiftly corrected in real time, but there were questions raised about the integrity of the new draw, with the revised fixtures not necessarily the ones that would have come about had the process been conducted properly. UEFA decided that the only option was to void the result.
In fairness, this probably had to be done. United fans would rightly have had some questions about how they ended up against PSG, while Villarreal would certainly rather have taken on the team from the red half of Manchester than their city rivals. Even if there was nothing wrong with the original draw, the appearance of integrity for UEFA is just as important as the reality.
However, it was a tough break for Liverpool, who had been set for a very winnable tie against Red Bull Salzburg. Thoughts of a nice easy first leg to wrap things up early — perhaps with a built-in chance to scout Karim Adeyemi — were quickly eradicated. Bayern Munich will instead await the Austrian side.
Salzburg are the youngest side left in the competition, and they have never reached this stage of the Champions League. Coupled with the relatively short trip, Klopp would have been rubbing his hands at the draw. That being said, Liverpool are known to admire the Red Bull talent factory, and Adeyemi is just one of the potential stars of the future who could theoretically have inflicted some damage.
That, though, has all been consigned to a parallel universe. Disappointingly, Andriy Arshavin was not replaced by Yossi Benayoun and Fernando Torres for UEFA’s second attempt at the draw, but it nonetheless passed without a hitch. The result: Liverpool vs Inter Milan.
Ah. Right. That's all a little bit more tricky. The Serie A champions sit atop their league once again this season. No longer under the tutelage of Antonio Conte, and without Romelu Lukaku as a spearhead, they nonetheless pose a very real threat to Klopp and his hopes of progression.
Liverpool will take some comfort in the fact that they comfortably dispatched AC Milan, their city rivals, during the group stage. Milan sit second in Serie A, just a point behind Inter, and were outclassed by the second-string side Klopp fielded in the final match-day. The men in red will certainly be favourites for this redrawn tie — but there is no doubt that matters have been complicated.
Klopp will no doubt fancy his Liverpool side against any team in the world, so the bungle from UEFA is unlikely to change his outlook, but passage through to the Champions League quarter-finals from the last-16 might well just have got a little bit harder. Particularly with Chelsea coming out against Lille for a second time and Man City getting handed another favourable draw, the manager has a right to feel a little aggrieved.
