Explained: How Aston Villa will discover their Champions League fate in Friday's last-16 draw
Villa will find out on Friday morning whether they will face Borussia Dortmund or Club Brugge in the Champions League last-16.
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Unai Emery’s men will also discover their potential route all the way through to the final of the competition, with both Barcelona and Liverpool already known as possible quarter-final opponents.
Villa are seeded eighth, the position in which they finished the league phase of the competition, for the draw which takes place at Uefa’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland at 11am UK time.
Brugge and Dortmund are already known as their potential last-16 opponents after both came through ties in the play-off round, a stage which Villa avoided courtesy of their top-eight league phase finish.
Emery’s team have already faced Brugge in this year’s competition, losing 1-0 in Belgium in a match made infamous by Tyrone Mings conceding a penalty when he picked up an Emi Martinez goal-kick.
Brugge, who subsequently scraped into the play-off round by finishing 24th in the table, progressed after stunning Atalanta 5-2 on aggregate.
Dortmund, who dispatched Sporting Lisbon 3-0 over two legs in the play-off round, are also familiar opponents for Villa. Though the two clubs have never previously met in a competitive fixture, Villa travelled to Germany last August for a pre-season friendly, losing 2-0 to first half goals from Emre Can and Julian Brandt.
Dortmund reached the final of last year’s competition, losing 2-0 to Real Madrid at Wembley.
The last-16 ties will be played across the opening two midweeks of March with matches taking place on either Tuesday or Wednesday nights. Villa, as the higher seed, will be away in the first leg and at home in the second. The precise schedule will be confirmed shortly after the draw is completed.
Friday's draw will also map out fixtures for the rest of the competition, with clubs learning which side of the bracket they will be placed. As things stand Barcelona, Liverpool, Benfica and Paris St-Germain are Villa’s potential quarter-final opponents, should they progress to that stage of the tournament.
