Thomas Siniecki, Media365: published on Wednesday December 11, 2024 at 8:50 p.m.
The draw for the Youth League round of 16 will be held at the end of next week, on Friday December 20.
While Brest, in the Youth League, had a much less successful campaign than the first team in the Champions League, the big disappointment of the group stage came from Paris Saint-Germain. If the Bretons were already eliminated before conceding their final defeat against PSV Eindhoven (1-3), this was not the case for the capital club which would have passed even in the event of a draw in Salzburg. Except that David Suarez's players lost 3-2, led 3-0 and only came within a goal at the end of added time, on the field of a team that it was better not to face with such chopper, given its strong training tradition (champion in 2017) which also earned it a third place in the final for this group phase. Unlike the seniors, this only lasted six days (and not eight) before the real round of 16 from February.
Auxerre bute sur Hoffenheim
Lille and Monaco will be there very narrowly, respectively 20th and 22nd, the very last qualifying place since we must add the ten transferred from the champions' path. LOSC was held in check by Sturm Graz (1-1) and ASM lost to Arsenal (2-0), but it passes with eight points. For Lille – fortunately winners of Real Madrid, like the big boys – as for the Monegasques, the single match (as for each round thereafter) on February 11 or 12 will be played away at one of the six best clubs, that is to say Inter, Sporting, Salzburg, Barça, Stuttgart or Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, Auxerre will not follow the path of champions, the one which is based on the real results of young people in their national championships (and does not strictly repeat the draw for the Champions League for seniors). The Burgundians had easily eliminated La Vallette in the second qualifying round for their entry into the competition (two victories 5-0 and 0-2) but they came up against Hoffenheim on Wednesday evening. After losing 2-1 at home two weeks ago, the Auxerres, under the eyes of Guy Roux, hung on for a long time before losing again 1-0 on their return to Germany.
