UEFA announced on Monday that it would hold another draw for the knockout stages of the Champions League at 3 p.m. after recognizing a “Technical problem“which led to the cancellation of the one made at noon.
“Due to a technical issue with software from an external service provider that tells officials which teams are eligible to play others, a hardware error occurred during the draw. Therefore, the draw has been declared void and will be completely redone at 3:00 p.m.“, said the European Football Confederation.
An unprecedented imbroglio
Two hiccups during the draw sowed doubt on the validity of the procedure, causing a long hesitation at the end of which the European body ruled in favor of an annulment of the draw.
A first error came to light, when Villarreal fired Manchester United, when the English club were not to be among their potential opponents, since the two teams were in the same group during the group stage.
The images also show that the Manchester United ball was forgotten when forming the bowl of potential opponents Atlético Madrid. The Spanish club immediately asked for “explanations“to UEFA, demanding a”solution“to this mess.
New challenges?
So it’s time for a new draw, which perhaps opens the door to new disputes, especially from the clubs best served in the first draw, such as Real Madrid, one of the spearheads of the “Super League” “European, which had inherited from Benfica Lisbon.
In the first draw, Paris Saint-Germain was opposed to Manchester United while Lille had to face Chelsea, winner of the C1 last season.