The 2020–21 UEFA Champions League knockout phase began on 16 February with the round of 16 and ended on 29 May 2021 with the final at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal, to decide the champions of the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the knockout phase.[2]
Times are CET/CEST,[note 1] as listed by UEFA (local times, if different, are in parentheses).
Qualified teams
The knockout phase involves the sixteen teams which qualified as winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage.
Each tie in the knockout phase, apart from the final, was played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scored more goals on aggregate over the two legs advanced to the next round. If the aggregate score was level, the away goals rule was applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advanced. If away goals were also equal, then extra time was played. The away goals rule was again applied after extra time, i.e. if there were goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advanced by more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the winners were decided by a penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if the score was level at the end of normal time, extra time would be played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if the score was still level.[2]
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the round of 16, the eight group winners were seeded, and the eight group runners-up were unseeded. The seeded teams were drawn against the unseeded teams, with the seeded teams hosting the second leg. Teams from the same group or the same association could not be drawn against each other.
In the draws for the quarter-finals onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other. As the draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals were held together before the quarter-finals were played, the identity of the quarter-final winners was not known at the time of the semi-final draw. A draw was also held to determine which semi-final winner was designated as the "home" team for the final (for administrative purposes as it was played at a neutral venue).
For the quarter-finals and semi-finals, teams from the same city were not scheduled to play at home on the same day or consecutive days, due to logistics and crowd control.[3] To avoid such scheduling conflict, if the two teams were drawn to play at home for the same leg, the order of legs of the tie involving the team which was not titleholders of Champions League or Europa League (or lower-tier, if both were continental titleholders), or the team with the lower domestic ranking in the qualifying season (if neither team were continental title holder) was reversed from the original draw.[4]
Schedule
The schedule was as follows (all draws were held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland).[5]
The final was played on 29 May 2021 at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto. A draw was held on 19 March 2021, after the quarter-final and semi-final draws, to determine the "home" team for administrative purposes.[31]
^"Updated UEFA competitions calendar". UEFA. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ab"Regulations of the UEFA Champions League, 2020/21". UEFA. 24 September 2020.
^"Why Manchester United's UEFA Champions League home leg vs Barcelona has been reversed". Manchester Evening News. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
^"Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draws: all you need to know". UEFA. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
^"2020/21 UEFA Champions League match calendar". UEFA. 24 September 2019.
^ ab"UEFA Champions League venue changes". UEFA. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
^"Champions League: Borussia Monchengladbach v Man City moved to Budapest". BBC Sport. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^"Champions League: RB Leipzig v Liverpool moved to Budapest because of Germany travel ban". BBC Sport. 7 February 2021. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
^"Liverpool vs Leipzig Champions League round of 16 second leg to be played in Budapest". UEFA. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
^"Liverpool to host RB Leipzig in Budapest for Champions League last 16 second leg". BBC Sport. 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
^"Manchester City vs Borussia Mönchengladbach venue change confirmed". UEFA. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^"Champions League: Man City to host Borussia Monchengladbach in Budapest in last 16". BBC Sport. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Borussia Mönchengladbach v Manchester City" (PDF). UEFA. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Manchester City v Borussia Mönchengladbach" (PDF). UEFA. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Lazio v Bayern Munich" (PDF). UEFA. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Bayern Munich v Lazio" (PDF). UEFA. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
^"Champions League: Atletico Madrid v Chelsea moved to Romania". BBC Sport. 10 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Atlético Madrid v Chelsea" (PDF). UEFA. 23 February 2021. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Chelsea v Atlético Madrid" (PDF). UEFA. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – RB Leipzig v Liverpool" (PDF). UEFA. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Liverpool v RB Leipzig" (PDF). UEFA. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Porto v Juventus" (PDF). UEFA. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Juventus v Porto" (PDF). UEFA. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Barcelona v Paris Saint-Germain" (PDF). UEFA. 16 February 2021. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona" (PDF). UEFA. 10 March 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Sevilla v Borussia Dortmund" (PDF). UEFA. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Borussia Dortmund v Sevilla" (PDF). UEFA. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 1st Leg – Atalanta v Real Madrid" (PDF). UEFA. 24 February 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Round of 16 2nd Leg – Real Madrid v Atalanta" (PDF). UEFA. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
^ abc"UEFA Champions League quarter-final and semi-final draws". UEFA.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st Leg – Manchester City v Borussia Dortmund" (PDF). UEFA. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd Leg – Borussia Dortmund v Manchester City" (PDF). UEFA. 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
^"Porto vs Chelsea games to be played in Seville". UEFA. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st Leg – Porto v Chelsea" (PDF). UEFA. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd Leg – Chelsea v Porto" (PDF). UEFA. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st Leg – Bayern Munich v Paris Saint-Germain" (PDF). UEFA. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd Leg – Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich" (PDF). UEFA. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 1st Leg – Real Madrid v Liverpool" (PDF). UEFA. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Quarter-finals 2nd Leg – Liverpool v Real Madrid" (PDF). UEFA. 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Semi-finals 1st Leg – Paris Saint-Germain v Manchester City" (PDF). UEFA. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Semi-finals 2nd Leg – Manchester City v Paris Saint-Germain" (PDF). UEFA. 4 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Semi-finals 1st Leg – Real Madrid v Chelsea" (PDF). UEFA. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
^"Full Time Summary Semi-finals 2nd Leg – Chelsea v Real Madrid" (PDF). UEFA. 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"Full Time Report Final – Manchester City v Chelsea" (PDF). UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 29 May 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 May 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
Note: In 1991–92, the competition was still known as the European Cup, but is included as it was the first to use a group stage format. In that season and 1992–93, there was no knockout phase between the group stage and final.