Former La Liga Mallorca teammates Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Kubo Takefusa (Real Sociedad) will face off in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) tournament.
UEFA held the draw for the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 for the 2023-2024 season at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on Monday.
As a result of the draw, PSG (France), who finished second in Group F, will face Sociedad (Spain), who finished first in Group D, in the round of 16. This meant that Lee Kang-in and Kubo, who became best friends at the same age while playing for Mallorca, would meet in a ‘mini Korea-Japan match‘.
Bayern Munich (Germany), where Kim Min-jae plays, will face Lazio (Italy) in the round of 16. Munich advanced to the round of 16 after finishing first in Group A with five wins and one draw. Lazio earned a hard-fought second place finish in Group E with three wins, one draw, and two losses, but will face a tough opponent in the first leg.
Defending champions Manchester City (England) will face Copenhagen (Denmark), the easiest opponent in terms of objective strength of schedule of any team in the Round of 16.
Reigning English Premier League champion Arsenal is joined by Porto (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain) – Napoli (Italy), Atletico Madrid (Spain) – Inter Milan (Italy), Borussia Dortmund (Germany) – PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), and Real Madrid (Spain) – RB Leipzig (Germany) to complete the Round of 16.
The UCL Round of 16 will be played on February 13-14 and 20-21, 2024, with the second leg on March 5-6 and 12-13, home and away.