Yaya Toure becomes first African coach to lead a team into Champions League

The Champions League draw scheduled for Thursday, August 27, 2026, is not the first time UEFA has faced a major blunder in this process. On December 13, 2021, during the round of 16 draw in Nyon, the ceremony turned into a chaos. Michael Heselschwerdt, UEFA's director of competitions, made two critical mistakes. He placed Manchester United's ball in Villarreal's position, a pair who were previously in the same group and thus couldn't face each other.

The issue was promptly corrected, and Villarreal was paired with Manchester City. However, the issues were far from over. Moments later, when it was time to determine Atlético de Madrid's opponent, Manchester United's ball was overlooked from the bowl, while Liverpool's ball was mistakenly inserted. Consequently, Atlético was paired with Bayern Munich, and Manchester United faced Paris Saint-Germain, momentarily offering the tantalizing prospect of a Messi-Ronaldo showdown.

Atlético promptly demanded an explanation, and UEFA acknowledged the problem was due to a technical glitch in the external software used. The decision was taken swiftly: the initial draw was declared void, and a full redo was conducted three hours later. This second draw completely reshuffled the match-ups. PSG, which had initially been paired with Manchester United, was drawn against Real Madrid instead, causing anger among the Madrid side.

Manchester United was now drawn against Atlético de Madrid. The only match-up that remained identical in both draws was Lille versus Chelsea. This mix-up underscores that even with the most advanced automation, human oversight and attention to detail are still vital.