THIS is the moment Monday’s Champions League draw was ruined.
Bumbling Uefa chiefs wrongly drew Manchester United against Villarreal before incorrectly claiming the Red Devils could NOT face Atletico Madrid.
The initial draw was such a farce, it eventually had to be redone later in the day.
United were initially drawn against Paris Saint-Germain – setting up a mouth-watering clash between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
And in a comical twist of fate, Ralf Rangnick’s men got Atletico once the process was followed correctly.
The first gaffe came when ex-Arsenal winger Andrey Arshavin pulled out United’s ball to face Villarreal.
But that tie could not stand as they were both in Group F and therefore not eligible to meet in the last 16.
An initial redraw was ordered and United’s crosstown rivals Manchester City were then selected to play Unai Emery’s side.
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But then, for no reason whatsoever, United were not put in the mix to face Atletico.
Footage shows Atletico’s ball selected before a Uefa official starts collecting the balls of their potential opponents to be put in the ‘opponent’ draw pot together.
But for some reason, he neglected to pick up a Man Utd one so it was then impossible for the teams to be drawn against each other.
Realising their error amid complaints from the likes of Diego Simeone’s side after the full draw had been completed, Uefa stunningly ordered a complete re-draw.
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Man Utd’s opponents switched from PSG to Atletico while City got Sporting and Liverpool got Inter Milan.
Remarkably, Chelsea drew French champions Lille again.
Later in the day, Uefa were slated for blaming the botched draw on a ‘technical problem’.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk