Newcastle face Qarabag & Real meet Benfica in play-offs

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Jose Mourinho smiles and folds his armsImage source, Getty Images

Image caption,

Jose Mourinho won his first Champions League trophy with Porto in 2004

ByBobbie Jackson

BBC Sport journalist

Benfica will face Real Madrid in the Champions League play-offs just three weeks after their dramatic league phase encounter.

On Wednesday, goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin's 98th-minute goal earned Jose Mourinho's side a 4-2 win against the Spanish giants.

Newcastle will play Qarabag after finishing the league phase in 12th place, while defending champions Paris St-Germain, who finished 11th, will face Ligue 1 rivals Monaco.

The two-legged play-offs are for teams who finished between 9th and 24th in the league phase and the first games will take place on 17-18 February, with the second round one week later.

The Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary will host the 2025-26 final on 30 May.

Qarabag finished 22nd in the league phase after winning three, drawing one and losing four of their matches.

They were defeated 6-0 against Liverpool at Anfield in their final outing and have not beaten a Premier League team in nine previous attempts.

The Azerbaijan champions avoided defeat for the first time against an English club when drawing 2-2 with Chelsea in November.

The winner of the tie between Newcastle and Qarabag will face either Chelsea or Barcelona in the last 16.

Champions League play-offs draw in full

Bodo/Glimt v Inter Milan

Benfica v Real Madrid

Monaco v Paris St-Germain

Qarabag v Newcastle

Galatasaray v Juventus

Club Brugge v Atletico Madrid

Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta

Olympiacos v Bayer Leverkusen

Watch highlights of every Champions League game from 22:00 on Wednesday on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

There will also be a Champions League Match of the Day on BBC One on Wednesday, from 22:40 to 00:00.

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