The draws for the last phases of the European competition will take a new turn on Friday after changes in the size this season.
The round of 16, quarterfinals and semi-final draws take place for the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League at the UEFA headquarters in Switzerland on Friday afternoon, starting with the European Cup at 11 am UK time.
But unlike in previous years, when all the teams involved expect that a ball that represents their club has drawn itself from one of UEFA's iconic semi-football, only eight balls will be presented in every competition this time.
This is due to the new sowing in the 'tennis style that prevents teams from ending up next to each other in the competition phase to the final, these are known as seed pairs.
To take the Champions League as an example, the four couples Liverpool and Barcelona – who ended first and second – are Arsenal and Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen and Lille and Aston Villa.
These top eight sides from the competition phase automatically qualified for the last 16, where they are accompanied by the winners of the two-legged knockout phase play-offs.
On Friday, the clubs are drawn in each placed pair in one of the two positions, which allocates the side of the bracket.
One ball will be removed from the bowl with the two relevant placed teams (eg Liverpool and Barcelona) and will be opened to show the team. The first team is placed in place on the silver side of the bracket, while the other is placed on the blue side in the corresponding place.
In this example, when the side of Arne First is displayed, they will be drawn to play the French champions Paris St-Germain, those fellow countrymen Brest in the play-off round.
The same format will be hired in the Europa League and Conference, where Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea hope for European success.
The Red Devils and Spurs finished the competition phase in third and fourth place, which means that they can meet a sown pair in the Europa League and only meet the final.
They will be confronted with real Sociedad or AZ Alkmaar, depending on which side of the bracket they are drawn.
In the meantime, Chelsea closed the Conference League phase with a perfect record of six games and was at the top of the rankings for the Portuguese side Vitalia.
The blues can be confronted with Laliga -Outfit Real Betis or Danish Giants FC Copenhagen in the next round.
Teams play the return games of the two-legged round of 16 games at home, with the first match-ups for the first week of March.
However, there is even more to be revealed during Friday's draw in Nyon, with the order of matches in the quarterfinals and semi -final that must be decided in each competition.
Four bowls are prepared for the quarterfinals, which immediately follows the round of 16, with two for the silver side of the bracket and two for the blue side of the bracket in the Champions League.
Each bowl contains two balls that represent the winners of the round of 16 games of one sports from the relevant side of the bracket, with the first Silver Bowl with briefs with paper marked with 'winners R16 1' and 'Winners R16 2' and the Second Silver Bowl 'Winners R16 3' and 'Winners R16 4'.
The first bowl on the blue side contains briefs of paper marked with 'winners R16 5' and 'winners R16 6' and, finally, 'winners R16 7' and 'winners R16 8' in the second bowl on the blue side.
The first ball from this bowl indicates the team that the first match of the quarterfinals plays at home, and the second ball the team that plays the return bone at home.
This process is repeated for the semi -final draw – with only two bowls prepared – one for the silver side of the bracket with balls with briefs marked with 'winners QF 1' and 'winners QF 2', and one for the blue side of the draw with 'Winners QF 3' and 'Winners QF 4'.
There is no draw for the final, because the winners of the silver side of the bracket are designated as a home team.
In another change in the procedure this year, teams from the same nation can be pulled against each other in the round of 16.
In the Champions League this can lead to delicious collisions between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, and Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid in the last 16.
Teams can also be confronted with parties they played in the competition phase such as Barcelona and Benfica.
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