Chelsea will face tough opponents in the top 16 of the Champions League

DBasia.news – The Champions League has confirmed 16 clubs that qualify for the knockout stages. The opponents will be determined by a draw held December 13, 2021 in Nyon, Switzerland.

For the draw, UEFA has divided it into eight seeded and non-seeded teams. From there, it can be seen the potential for matches that will occur in the top 16.

What’s interesting is who will play against the reigning champions, Chelsea. The Blues’ failure to finish at the top of Group H has given them the opportunity to face strong teams.

The Blues did benefit a little from the rules that made it impossible for them to meet teams from England.

In UEFA rules it is stated that each team from the same group cannot face each other. Then every team from the same country cannot face each other.

That rule helped Chelsea a bit. The reason is, they are unlikely to meet Manchester City, Manchester United and Liverpool who are included as the flagship team.

The options for Thomas Tuchel’s team are getting narrower as they will not meet Juventus, who are in the same group. This means, Chelsea only has the potential to face Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Lille, and Ajax Amsterdam.

Of the four potential opponents, only Lille could be considered a dark horse. Munich is the champion of the 2019-2020 Champions League season, Real Madrid is the holder of the most championship titles in the competition.

Meanwhile, Ajax Amsterdam cannot be underestimated as this season they were able to get rid of a strong German team, Borussia Dortmund.