With the group stage done and dusted, the ballots for the Champions League knockout round were drawn earlier today in Nyon, Switzerland. With the exception of Serie A's Inter Milan and last year's have-a-go heroes Ajax from the Eredivisie, all the big clubs expected to progress this far into the tournament did. The brackets for the round of 16 are as follows:

What immediately stands out is the challenge all four Premier League teams face. First are last year's finalists, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. Defending champions Liverpool face Atletico Madrid. Even though Klopp's Redmen are undefeated domestically this season and lost only once in the Champions League group stage, Diego Simeone always fields a tough squad in Europe and regularly reaches the tournament's upper echelons so those two legs are expected to be a grind.

Counterbalancing the European consistency are Tottenham who will face the current Bundesliga leaders RB Leipzig. Leipzig don't have a record to speak of in the Champions League – this is only their second appearance, with their first being a group stage elimination in the 17/18 season – and Tottenham have been all over the place since losing the 18/19 season final. Big losses against Bayern Munich and Brighton in October followed by difficult wins over Greece's Olympiacos and relative minnows such as West Ham and Bournemouth prompted the sacking of long time manager Mauricio Pochettino and the hiring of Jose Mourinho. Can the Special One work his magic and get Spurs back on track?

Then comes the continuation of old feuds. Manchester City vs. Real Madrid is the latest chapter in the ongoing saga of Pep Guardiola vs. Real Madrid in the Champions League. With Barcelona, he beat them 3-1 on aggregate in the 10/11 semifinals, then with Bayern Munich four years later he was crushed 5-0 on aggregate in the semis. This makes him 1-1 going into his first European clash with Real Madrid as Manchester City manager and previous form suggests he will struggle; the two sides have played four times, resulting in two losses and two draws. Not only that but Madrid simply know how to get it done; they no longer have Cristiano Ronaldo, recently returned manager Zinedine Zidane is well known to not getting along with star Gareth Bale and players in core positions such as Karim Benzema, Sergio Ramos and Marcelo are aging out of their prime without replacements coming in, and yet they're second in La Liga and in their Champions League group – far behind Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), unchallenged by Club Brugge and Galatasaray.

Bayern Munich and Chelsea don't have a historic rivalry – in fact, they don't have much of a history at all. They have only played each other three times, but each has left a wound on the Germany's biggest club. In the 04/05 season, Chelsea snuck through 6-5 on aggregate and in the 11/12 season, they beat Bayern at home in the Allianz Area 5-4 on penalties. Bayern Munich are a proud team with a long memory and that infamous night ranks alongside the infamous 98/99 season final against Manchester United as something they will never live down.

What should be the most fun, however, is Borussia Dortmund vs. PSG. Dortmund were once considered the hipster's favourite side, now they're everybody's second club thanks to consistently exciting, attacking play and a history of being giant slayers – the night Robert Lewandowski put four against a cocky Real Madrid is one of their particularly magic moments – and PSG are the giant everyone loves to slay. Propped up by Qatari oil money, they have bags of cash to buy players who don't fit in elsewhere (i.e. Neymar, Julian Draxler, Kaylor Navas) and hope the individual quality of each is enough. Domestically it works, in Europe, even under the guidance of former Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel, the lack of chemistry on the pitch causes them to come undone. Across the two legs, expect goals galore and last minute drama.

The Champions League round of 16 will kick off on February 10, 2020.