Christian Pulisic and Gio Reyna have a strong connection of being two of the key pieces in the U.S. men’s national team picture, but their friendship will be put on hold in February after being paired against one another in UEFA Champions League action.
Pulisic and Chelsea will face Reyna and Borussia Dortmund in the Round of 16 in the annual competition, following Monday’s draw. It will be Pulisic’s first head-to-head showdown with the 19-year-old Reyna, as well as his former club Dortmund, where he spent the first four years of his professional career with.
Neutral fans will enjoy a rematch of last season’s final as Liverpool and Real Madrid meet in the Round of 16. Real Madrid defeated the Reds 1-0 in last season’s final in Istanbul, as well as 3-1 in the 2018 final.
There will also be a rematch of the 2020 final as Paris Saint-Germain takes on Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich edged PSG 1-0 back in 2020 thanks to Kingsley Coman’s winning goal. PSG proceeded to eliminate the German giants in the 2020-21 quarterfinals on the away goal tiebreaker.
2021 runners-up Manchester City will face off with RB Leipzig after topping its group while AC Milan meets Tottenham also in the knockout stage.
Round of 16 first legs matchups are scheduled for February 14-15 and 21-22.
Return legs will be played on March 7-8 and 14-15.
Here are all of the Round of 16 matchups:
Liverpool vs. Real Madrid
Paris Saint-Germain vs. Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund vs. Chelsea
RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City
AC Milan vs. Tottenham Hotspur
Eintracht Frankfurt vs. Napoli
Inter Milan vs. FC Porto
Club Brugge vs. Benfica
At least it’s after the WC. Our luck they both would have gone in for a tackle and severely injured each other.
Are we even sure Pulisic is going to be a Chelsea player after the January transfer?