Explosive Matchups Headline Champions League Round of 16

The first knockout round on the road to the final in Istanbul is littered with eye-opening showdowns.

The next stops on the road to Istanbul are set–and there are some eye-opening clashes along the way.

The eight matchups in the first knockout round for the 2019-2020 UEFA Champions League were drawn on Monday in Monaco, where some intriguing two-legged, last-16 ties between European powers will result in some big names bowing out early, while others keep the dream alive of hoisting the trophy in Turkey.

Group winners were PSG, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Juventus, Liverpool, Barcelona, RB Leipzig and Valencia, while the runners-up were Real Madrid, Tottenham, Atalanta, Atletico Madrid, Napoli, Borussia Dortmund, Lyon and Chelsea. All of that made for some explosive possibilities, and the draw did not disappoint.

Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain was the first matchup out of the pots, pitting PSG manager Thomas Tuchel against his former club and featuring two of the brightest young stars in the game in Dortmund's Jadon Sancho and PSG's Kylian Mbappe.

Next out was Real Madrid vs. Manchester City, another clash between big-spending powers and one that brings Man City manager Pep Guardiola back to Spain, where he last won the Champions League with Barcelona. 

Atalanta, perhaps the lone surprise entrant in a round that features teams solely from Europe's big five leagues, drew Valencia, while Atletico Madrid landed a showdown vs. reigning champion Liverpool, where fiery managers Diego Simeone and Jurgen Klopp will match wits. It was at Atletico Madrid's Estadio Wanda Metropolitano that Liverpool captured the title last season.

Chelsea drew Bayern Munich in a rematch of the 2012 final–and one that brings Christian Pulisic back to Germany, where he starred for Borussia Dortmund before landing his move to the Premier League–while Lyon has the tough task of taming Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus.

Tottenham, now managed by Jose Mourinho after reaching the final last season under Mauricio Pochettino, will face RB Leipzig, while Barcelona will meet Napoli as the final pairings out of the pots. 

The group winners host the second leg of each matchup for the round, that begins on Feb. 18. Teams in the same league were prohibited from meeting each other in the round.