Champions League play-off draw: Manchester City learn fate as Celtic face European giants | OneFootball

Manchester City and Celtic have learned their fate for the UEFA Champions League play-off stage after failing to qualify for automatic qualification to the round of 16.

City have been drawn against reigning UEFA Champions League holders Real Madrid in a blockbuster play-off tie.

Pep Guardiola’s side narrowly avoided elimination from the competition thanks to a come-from-behind 3-1 win over Club Brugge, which saw them finish 22nd in the standings.

Real Madrid meanwhile finished 11th, missing out on automatic qualification to the last 16 by just one point.

Guardiola described the Spanish giants as the “first kings “of the competition after Wednesday’s game, and knows his side will need to be at their best to overcome Kylian Mbappe and co.

“If we have to play tomorrow it will be difficult but in two weeks, I don’t know how the opposition will be and the players,” he said about the prospect of facing Real Madrid.

“It’s okay, we are going to prepare well and we are going to be fit and we’ll try it and see what happens.

“We will try. I’m pretty sure we are going to create problems. I’m pretty sure that we are able to do something because these players have something special and we will try to do it.”

Carlo Ancelotti’s side sit pretty at the top of LaLiga, four points ahead of Barcelona.

Elsewhere, Celtic’s reward for finishing 21st in the table will be a difficult tie against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, who had an identical league phase record to Real Madrid.

Other ties include Serie A versus the Eredivisie as Juventus take on PSV Eindhoven and AC Milan face Feyenoord.

There is also an all-French tie as PSG take on this season’s surprise package Brest.

Here’s the draw in full:

Brest v Paris St-Germain

Club Brugge v Atalanta

Manchester City v Real Madrid

Juventus v PSV

AS Monaco v Benfica

Sporting v Borussia Dortmund

Celtic v Bayern Munich

Feyenoord v AC Milan