The pairings for the UEFA Champions League playoff matches were defined on Friday morning after the draw was held in Budapest (Hungary), the city where the final will be played. The draw determined the matchups for teams that finished between ninth and twenty-fourth in the regular season, who will face each other to secure a place in the round of 16. The main novelty is that Real Madrid of Spain will face Benfica of Portugal again, teams that starred in one of the most exciting finishes in recent times, as the Portuguese team qualified thanks to a goal from their goalkeeper, the Ukrainian Anatoliy Trubin. This matchup has an extra spice, as Benfica is coached by Portuguese manager José Mourinho, who was the head coach of Real Madrid between 2010 and 2013. Likewise, the current champion of the Champions League, Paris Saint-Germain of France, will have an interesting matchup against Monaco, while Atlético Madrid, coached by Argentine Diego 'Cholo' Simeone and counting on Juan Musso, Nahuel Molina, Thiago Almada, Nicolás González, Julián Álvarez, and Giuliano Simeone, will face Bruges of Belgium. Another candidate to go far in this Champions League is Inter Milan, which has Argentine forward Lautaro Martínez as one of its main stars.
