Thursday, December 10, 2009

The 2009–10 Champions League Round of 16 field is set after the Group Stage finished Wednesday.

Bordeaux, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Fiorentina, Barcelona, Sevilla, and Arsenal all reach the first knockout round via winning their respective groups. Joining them are group stage runners-up Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Milan, Porto, Lyon, Internazionale, Stuttgart and Olympiacos.

In the first knockout round, teams are drawn at random — though teams from the same association or country cannot be drawn together — and play two legs, the aggregate score of which will decide which team advances to the quarter-finals. In addition, group stage winners will play the second leg at their home stadium.

The first-leg games will be played on Feb. 16 and 17, 2010 and the second-leg games will be played on Feb. 23 and 24, 2010. The draw for the Round of 16 will be held on Dec. 18 in Nyon, Switzerland.

Eight third-place teams from the group stage will join the Europa League Round of the 32. They are: Juventus, Wolfsburg, Marseille, Atlético Madrid, Liverpool, Rubin Kazan, Unirea Urziceni, and Standard Liège.