HOLDERS MANCHESTER CITY will come up against record 14-time winners Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals after being paired together in Friday’s draw, meaning the sides will meet in a third consecutive season in the competition.
Arsenal will face Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich, while Paris Saint-Germain meet Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will take on Borussia Dortmund in the other ties.
The quarter-final first legs will be played on 9 and 10 April, with the second legs the following week. The semi-finals take place on 30 April and 1 May, with the return legs on 7 and 8 May. Wembley will host the final on Saturday, 1 June.
Full draw:
Semi-finals:
Meanwhile, Liverpool will play Atalanta in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, and will face either Benfica or Marseille in the semi-finals if they can get over their Italian opponents in the last eight.
Jurgen Klopp’s side, who are still in contention to win a quadruple this season, will entertain the Italian side at Anfield on 11 April and go to Italy a week later for the return.
The Reds hammered Sparta Prague 11-2 on aggregate on the last 16 and will be favourites to beat Atalanta, who currently lie sixth in Serie A.
The clubs met in the group stage of the Champions League in 2020/21, with Liverpool winning 5-0 away in Bergamo and Atalanta winning 2-0 at Anfield.
Leverkusen are enjoying a remarkable season under former Liverpool midfielder Alonso, who is one of the leading contenders to replace Klopp as manager at Anfield when the German steps down at the end of the campaign.
Winners of the Uefa Cup, the Europa League’s predecessor, in 1988, Leverkusen have not lost a game all season and are currently 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga with nine matches left.
Their unbeaten record very nearly ended on Thursday, when they trailed 2-1 in injury time at home to Qarabag before a stunning comeback to win 3-2 against the side from Azerbaijan.
That allowed them to win their last-16 tie 5-4 on aggregate.
Leverkusen will face West Ham United — last season’s Europa Conference League winners — in the quarter-finals, with the English side having beaten another German club in Freiburg in the last round.
The winners of that tie will advance to a semi-final against either AC Milan or Roma, who will face off in an all-Italian last-eight tie.
The other quarter-final brings together two former European champions, with Marseille taking on Benfica.
Whoever wins that will play either Liverpool or Atalanta in the last four.
The quarter final first legs will be played on 11 April, with second legs on 18 April.
Full draw:
Semi-finals:
The first legs will be played on 2 May, with second legs 9 May before the final in Dublin on 22 May.
Written by AFP and posted on the42.ie
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say