So Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo will not happen after all. After errors were committed in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 draw on Monday, the European governing body has voided the results of the first draw and decided to conduct a redraw three hours later at 9 a.m. ET.
The issue stems from two errors that were caught in the original draw conducted at 6 a.m. ET on Monday.
First, Manchester United’s name was erroneously placed in the pot to be drawn against Villarreal. However, due to the fact that both teams played in the same group, this should not have been permitted. The rules state that teams from the same group and country cannot face each other in the Round of 16.
Later, a reporter also noticed that Manchester United was not included as an option to be drawn against Atletico Madrid when it should have been. Liverpool, which played in the same group as Atletico Madrid, were mistakenly picked instead.
UEFA chalks up the problems to “a technical problem with the software of an external service provider that instructs the officials as to which teams are eligible to play each other.”
Here are the results of the second draw:
| Match | Home team – 1st leg | Home team – 2nd leg | |
| 1 | RB Salzburg | vs | Bayern Munich |
| 2 | Sporting CP | vs | Manchester City |
| 3 | Benfica | vs | Ajax |
| 4 | Chelsea | vs | LOSC Lille |
| 5 | Atletico Madrid | vs | Manchester United |
| 6 | Villarreal | vs | Juventus |
| 7 | Inter Milan | vs | Liverpool |
| 8 | PSG | vs | Real Madrid |
So VAR can come to this for man utd? Could there also be an error in the Messi’s Ballon D’or? Who knows 🤣