NYON: Defending champions Real Madrid will renew their Champions League rivalry with 2023 winners Manchester City in a blockbuster knockout phase playoff tie after the two teams were pitted against each other in the draw on Friday.

Both Real and City failed to advance automatically to the last 16 as one of the top eight sides after they finished lith and 22nd, respectively, in the new league-phase format.

Teams that finished ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged playoff to advance to the last 16.

Real and City have played each other in four knockout ties since 2020 and will be facing off for a fourth consecutive year after the Premier League champions avoided drawing Bayern Munich.

Pep Guardiola`s City will be at home in the first leg before going to Spainforthereturn.

`It feels like a derby already, four years in a row facing Real Madrid, City boss Pep Guardiola told reporters on Friday. `But Bayern or Madrid, both were really tough. Hopefully we can arrive in the first leg here and then at Madrid as best as possible.

The La Liga leaders will fancy their chances having eliminated English clubs in the knockout stages 13 times.

Although City thrashed the Spanish club 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals in 2023 en route to the treble, Real exacted revenge last year when they beat Guardiola`s side on penalties in the quarter-finals after two draws.

`In a perfect world, we wouldn`t play them, but we weren`t able to get into the top eight and that`s OK, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said. `Playing two more or fewer games doesn`t matter ... we have the resources to deal with it.

Real also won a semi-final tie between the sides in 2016 and City won in the last 16 in 2020.

`We know each other very well, said Emilio Butragueno, Real`s director of institutional relations, to Spanish media. `They are a really great team who have the experience and are used to these types of games, so they will be very difficult opponents. But this competition is very special for us and we will play the second leg at home, at the Bernabeu.

The competition does not get any easier for either team as they will face either Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.

Celtic will face six-time European champions Bayern, after the Scottish champions reached the knockout stage for the first time in 12 years.

With teams from the same country also allowed to face each other, unlike in previous years, the playoffs will have an all-French tie with Paris St Germain facing Brest. The winners will face either Liverpool or Barcelona in the last 16.

`There will be a French team in the last 16, so we have to see the positive side,` PSG coach Luis Enrique said ahead of Saturday`s Ligue 1 game against the same opponents.

`The French league is not valued enough, yet there are four French teams in the Champions League [knockouts].

Juventus and AC Milan avoided each other in the draw, with the two Serie A sides facing Dutch clubs PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, respectively.

However, the Italian sides may face Inter Milan if they advance to the next round or they could come up against Arsenal.

Last season`s Europa League winners Atalanta, who finished one place outside the top eight which offered a direct path to the last 16, will face Club Brugge of Belgium.

Sporting of Portugal were drawn against last season`s runners-up Borussia Dortmund, while Monaco will take on Benfica having lost at home to the Portuguese club in the league phase.

The play-off ties will take place next month, with the eight winners going through to the last 16 along with the eight highest-placed sides from the league phase.

The draw for the remainder of the competition is partly pre-determined with Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter, Atletico, Leverkusen, Lille and Aston Villa the sides already through to the last 16.

Those teams finished in the top eight in the standings in the 36-team league phase the first season of the new format for the competition saw all competing clubs placed together in one giant pool, each playing eight games against eight different opponents.

The draw for the last 16 onwards will take place on February 21, and it remains to be seen if Liverpool derive any advantage from having come first in the league phase.

Arne Slot`s team will play either PSG or Brest, or Monaco or Benfica, in the last 16 in March.-Agencies