Introduction
The draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League has now been made. Teams now know not only who they will face in the last eight of the competition, but also whom their prospective semi-finals will be if they get that far.
And, whilst there are no easy matches at this stage of the competition, the path to the final looks distinctly easier on one side of the competition than the other.
Whilst six of the remaining teams remaining are previous winners, the prospect of a new name being added to the trophy this year continues to be a distinct possibility.
Real Madrid
Having seen off the challenge of Liverpool, the defending champions Real Madrid have been drawn against another in the form of Chelsea.
This is a repeat of last year’s quarter-final, the main difference being that the Spanish side have been drawn at home first.
On that occasion, Real won 3 – 1 in London, but Chelsea were leading by three goals in the reverse fixture before two late goals allowed the Spanish champions to progress on aggregate.
Chelsea are very much a team in flux as they look to rebuild under manager Graham Potter, so Real will start the heavy favourites for this tie.
Manchester City
Manchester City’s reward for thrashing RB Leipzig is a tie against another German side Bayern Munich. This is arguably the highlight of the draw, featuring two of the favourites to lift the trophy this year. City will be hoping to take some sort of lead from the first leg when they travel to Germany for the return match, whilst Bayern already know they must hatch a plan to combat the threat of Erling Haaland.
He is a player whom they are already acquainted from his time in the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, but that will not make him any easier to contain.
AC Milan
AC Milan have the prospect of all Italian contest when they take on Napoli, the surprise team of the year in Serie A. Milan are the second most successful team in the history of the competition – only Real Madrid have lifted the trophy on more occasions. Napoli, by contrast, have never won it, and do not have any great tradition in the competition.
However, they seem set to win their first Scudetto since the days of Diego Maradona. They are 18 points clear at the top of the table, and Milan, who are fourth, trail them by 20 points. That would appear to make Napoli favourites to reach the semi-finals for the first time ever.
Inter Milan
Inter Milan reached the last eight by knocking out Porto, and now they face another Portuguese side Benfica. This is a repeat of the 1965 final, which Inter won, but the Portuguese side are flying this season, whilst Inter have had their fair share of league struggles, although they are currently second behind Napoli.
Recent history favours the Italian side, but this could be close.
Prospective semi-finals
The semi-final draw has been made at the same0time.
At least one Italian team is guaranteed to make the semi-finals, because both the AC Milan – Napoli, and Inter Milan – Benfica ties are in the bottom half of it.
That means the top half of the draw looks far tougher, with the winner of Real Madrid Chelsea facing either Manchester City or Bayern.
It also means that there cannot be two teams from the same country appearing in the final. Both English teams are in the top half of the draw, and the three from Italy in the bottom segment.
Timing
The first legs of the quarter-finals will be played on 11th and 12th April, with the reverse fixtures a week later.
The semi-finals will be staged on 9th and 10th May, with, again, the second legs being hosted a week after that.
This year the final will be staged at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on June 10th.
The Stadium was originally scheduled to host the 2021 final between Chelsea and Manchester City, only for it to be moved to Porto in Portugal after the UK government placed Turkey on their Covid “red list” preventing English fans from travelling to the match.
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