Elsewhere, Barcelona will face Newcastle, Tottenham will play Atletico Madrid, and Arsenal will take on Bayer Leverkusen.
Published On 27 Feb 2026
Real Madrid will play Manchester City while defending champions Paris Saint-Germain will face Chelsea in the pick of the 2025/26 Champions League last 16 games after the draw was made by UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland.
The draw for European football’s biggest club competition on Friday determined that City will face Madrid for the fourth consecutive season in a knockout Champions League clash.
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Meanwhile, PSG and Chelsea will repeat their FIFA 2025 Club World Cup final, which the Premier League side won 3-0.
Elsewhere, Barcelona will face Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur will play Atletico Madrid, and Arsenal will take on Bayer Leverkusen.
Liverpool will renew hostilities with Galatasaray in a rematch of their league phase game, which the Turkish giants won 1-0 in Istanbul.
Norwegian minnows will face Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon, while the only Italian side left in the competition face a daunting encounter with German champions Bayern Munich.
The first legs will be played on March 10-11 and the second legs will be played on March 17-18.
The eight seeded teams – who finished in the top eight spots in the league phase – will be at home for the second legs against the eight teams who qualified through the playoff round.
The last 16 draw in full:
- Paris Saint-Germain vs Chelsea
- Galatasaray vs Liverpool
- Real Madrid vs Manchester City
- Atalanta vs Bayern Munich
- Newcastle vs Barcelona
- Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham Hotspur
- Bodo/Glimt vs Sporting
- Bayer Leverkusen vs Arsenal
Familiar foes
Real Madrid knocked City out in the last 16 last season, as they did in the 2024 quarterfinals and 2022 semifinals.
City beat Madrid in the 2023 semifinal en route to lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time.
The two clubs have played each other on 15 occasions, with each team winning five games and the rest ending as draws.
City and Madrid have already faced each other in the league stage this season, with City coming from behind to win 2-1 in December.
PSG will be eager to take revenge on Chelsea after the Blues stunned the French champions to win the inaugural the Club World Cup title in a bad-tempered game last year.
The clubs have previously faced each other in the Champions League, with Chelsea triumphing in a 2014 quarterfinal and PSG eliminating the Blues in the last 16 in 2015 and 2016.
The draw on Friday also mapped out the potential route to the final, to be held in Budapest on May 30, as every team now knows their possible quarterfinal and semifinal opponents.
In the quarterfinals, City or Madrid will face the winner of Bayern Munich vs Atalanta, while PSG or Chelsea will take on either Liverpool or Galatasaray.
Quarterfinal draw
- Paris Saint-Germain or Chelsea vs Liverpool or Galatasaray
- Real Madrid or Manchester City vs Bayern Munich of Atalanta
- Newcastle or Barcelona vs Tottenham or Atletico Madrid
- Sporting Lisbon or Bodo/Glimt vs Arsenal or Bayer Leverkusen
Semifinal draw
- Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Liverpool or Galatasaray vs Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich of Atalanta
- Newcastle,Barcelona, Tottenham or Atletico Madrid vs Sporting Lisbon, Bodo/Glimt, Arsenal or Bayer Leverkusen
Champions League knockout round schedule:
- Last 16 : March 10-11 and March 17-18, 2026
- Quarterfinals: April 7-8 and April 14-15, 2026
- Semifinals: April 28-29 April and May 5-6, 2026
- Final: May 30, 2026
