Champions League draw: Real Madrid meet Man City in playoff round

Here we go again.

Real Madrid and Manchester City were pitted against one another in Friday's draw for the Champions League playoff round, marking the fourth consecutive season the heavyweights will meet in the knockout stages of Europe's premier club competition.

It's also a matchup between the last two Champions League winners.

Pep Guardiola's men, who avoided elimination in the inaugural league phase by winning on Matchday 8 and jumping to 22nd in the table, knew going into Friday's draw that they'd be paired with either Madrid or Bayern Munich.

"In two weeks will be better than we are (now)," Guardiola said after City narrowly escaped a humbling exit by beating Club Brugge this week. "Against these two giants, one of them we are going to play, we'll see how we arrive. ... Sometimes it is impossible today, but tomorrow the mindset, the vibes change."

In the end, they were handed a familiar opponent with the record 15-time champions, who knocked Man City out of last season's competition with a shootout victory in the quarterfinals.

Bayern, meanwhile, were paired with Scottish champions Celtic, who are back in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in 12 years.

The playoff round features the teams that finished between ninth and 24th place in the opening stage of the revamped tournament. Here's how the draw unfolded in full:

• Brest vs. Paris Saint-Germain
• Club Brugge vs. Atalanta
• Manchester City vs. Real Madrid
• Juventus vs. PSV Eindhoven
• Monaco vs. Benfica
• Sporting CP vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Celtic vs. Bayern Munich
• Feyenoord vs. AC Milan

The first legs of the knockout playoffs will be played on Feb. 11 and 12, with the return fixtures slated for the following week, on Feb. 18 and 19.

Friday's draw also helped clarify the path each of the 24 teams remaining in the competition will take to reach this season's final.

The eight winners of the playoff matchups will be drawn against the eight highest-placed sides from the league phase after the latter earned automatic berths to the round of 16. Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, Lille, and Aston Villa have the luxury of sitting back and watching the knockout playoffs unfold before returning to action.

That draw, which will crystallize the entire knockout bracket, will take place Feb. 21, two days after the playoff round is complete.

This season's Champions League final takes place at the Allianz Arena on May 31.