{"id":301043,"date":"2023-12-18T13:24:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/?p=301043"},"modified":"2023-12-18T13:24:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T13:24:28","slug":"champions-league-last-16-draw-is-dubbed-boring-and-worst-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usasportsradar.com\/soccer\/champions-league-last-16-draw-is-dubbed-boring-and-worst-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League last-16 draw is dubbed &apos;boring&apos; and &apos;WORST ever&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1> Champions League last-16 draw is dubbed &#8216;boring&#8217; and &#8216;WORST ever&#8217; by fans on social media &#8211; with knockout stages labelled &#8216;awful&#8217; as Manchester City and Arsenal learn their fate<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><b>The final 16 teams in the competition learned their opponents\u00a0for the next round<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Draw produced no standout clashes that will take place in February\u00a0and March<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>Man City MUST win before going to &#8216;pointless FIFA jamboree&#8217; &#8211; It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Fans have been quick to blast the Champions League Round of 16 fixtures after Arsenal and Manchester City learned of their opponents in the next round of the competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Premier League\u00a0sides were among the 16 clubs in the draw hosted in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday morning, for fixtures set to take place in February and March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Defending champions City were paired with Danish side FC Copenhagen, who qualified at the expense of Manchester United, while Arsenal will face Portuguese giants Porto.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But viewers were all together disappointed with the lack of heavyweight clashes, as the likes of PSG\u00a0and Inter Milan &#8211; who finished as runners-up in the group stage &#8211; avoided all of the favoured group winners.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Many were united in labelling it as the least appealing slate of knockout fixtures. One fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: &#8216;Probably the worst Champions League draw ever.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082811-12876749-image-a-1_1702901378655.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Chelsea skipper John Terry was the special guest at the draw hosted at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082927-12876749-image-a-5_1702901494946.jpg\" height=\"402\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Fans were disappointed with the slate of fixtures for the last-16 of the Champions League<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082877-12876749-image-a-3_1702901413061.jpg\" height=\"112\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082871-12876749-image-a-2_1702901397127.jpg\" height=\"109\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082879-12876749-image-a-4_1702901425730.jpg\" height=\"122\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Many took to social media to label the draw as &#8216;boring&#8217; or &#8216;the worst ever&#8217; after several European heavyweights avoided one another in the next round\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Could genuinely be the worst round of 16 draw I\u2019ve ever seen,&#8217; said another. A third echoed that sentiment, simply writing: &#8216;Worst UCL draw ever.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The absence of established European Cup campaigners and the shock exits of Newcastle and Man United have played a part in the underwhelming list of ties.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This is an awful draw.&#8217; Added another fan. &#8216;No Chelsea or Liverpool genuinely leaves it empty.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Away from the English teams, fourteen-time winners Real Madrid were draw against RB Leipzig, while their city rivals face a stern test against last season&#8217;s finalists Inter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082937-12876749-image-a-6_1702901524344.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Terry&#8217;s former club were one of the recent winners who were absent from the draw following their dismal league campaign last term<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082875-12876749-image-a-7_1702901530948.jpg\" height=\"113\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/12\/18\/12\/79082873-12876749-image-a-8_1702901534504.jpg\" height=\"280\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Some fans were keen to point out the interesting ties, even if they were few and far between<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Surprise package Real Sociedad were rewarded with a clash against PSG after topping their group and Barcelona will welcome Napoli to the Olympic Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>Harry Kane and Bayern were drawn against Lazio and Borussia Dortmund&#8217;s bid to return to a Wembley Champions League final will take them to runaway Eredivisie leaders PSV.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Monday&#8217;s draw threw up a few competitive fixtures, even if they are lacking in star power, but that has not been enough to please the majority of onlookers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Absolute awful draw.&#8217; One fan wrote. &#8216;Inter &#8211; Atl\u00e9tico, Napoli &#8211; Barca, Leipzig &#8211; Real. Those are the only half-decent matches, the rest will be absolute boring.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;At least Bayern and Dortmund have very good chances for the CL QF.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12876749\/Champions-League-16-draw-boring-WORST-social-media-knockout-stages-Manchester-City-Arsenal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Champions League last-16 draw is dubbed &#8216;boring&#8217; and &#8216;WORST ever&#8217; by fans on social media &#8211; with knockout stages labelled [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301042,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Champions League last-16 draw is dubbed &amp;apos;boring&amp;apos; 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