The knockout phase involves 32 teams: 22 teams which qualified directly, and 10 teams which qualified from the qualifying round (eight group winners and two best runners-up).[1]
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 30 minutes of 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 was still level, the visiting team advanced by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals were scored during extra time, the tie was decided by penalty shoot-out. In the final, which was played as a single match, if scores were level at the end of normal time, extra time was played, followed by penalty shoot-out if scores remained tied.
The mechanism of the draws for each round was as follows:
In the draw for the round of 32, 16 teams were seeded and 16 teams were unseeded, based on their UEFA club coefficients at the beginning of the season. 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 round of 16 onwards, there were no seedings, and teams from the same group or the same association could be drawn against each other.
The draw for the round of 32 and round of 16 was held on 19 August 2010. The draw for the quarter-finals and onwards was made on 19 November 2010. The bracket has been created in retrospect.
The 16 seeded teams were drawn one opponent each from the pool of 16 unseeded teams. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other. The seeded team played the second leg at home.[2] Matches were played on 30 September and 7 October.
From this round onwards, there was no seeding, and clubs from the same association could be drawn against each other. The drawing for this round was held immediately after the drawing for the round of 32. Therefore, instead of drawing specific teams matches were drawn with the winners playing each other in this round.[2] Matches were played on 4–5 November and 11–12 November.
1 Lyon originally won their match 5–0, but the UEFA Appeals Body awarded them a 0–3 defeat as they found Lyon guilty of fielding two ineligible players. Five weeks later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld Lyon's appeal and reinstated the original result.[3]
Bardolino
Lyon
Neulengbach
Valur
Rossiyanka
Umeå
Bayern Munich
Sparta Prague
Arsenal
Kim Little