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Champions League draw: Real Madrid get Man City; Barça get PSG

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8 months ago

March 16, 2024

Mar 15, 2024, 06:35 AM ET

Manchester Metropolis have been drawn in the direction of Precise Madrid inside the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Friday in a tie that sees the latest winners of Europe’s premier opponents deal with its most worthwhile facet.

Kylian Mbappé and his Paris Saint-Germain workforce will deal with Barcelona in what’s predicted to be his remaining season with the French membership, with sources telling ESPN he is anticipated to affix Barça’s rivals Madrid this summer time season.

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Elsewhere, Harry Kane will face a well-recognized foe as Bayern Munich have been drawn in the direction of Arsenal. It is also a well-recognized matchup, with Bayern having knocked the north London membership out of this opponents in 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Bayern followers is just not going to be permitted on the Emirates after UEFA punished the German membership’s supporters for throwing fireworks onto the pitch all through their round-of-16 first leg in the direction of Lazio in Rome.

The alternative tie is Atlético Madrid in the direction of Borussia Dortmund.

Throughout the semifinals, the winner of Atlético in the direction of Dortmund will play Barça or PSG, which means two of Arsenal, Bayern, Madrid and Metropolis will compete for a spot inside the remaining.

Barça’s contest in the direction of PSG will evoke recollections of quite a lot of newest ties, with the two teams having met inside the knockout ranges thrice given that 2014-15 season.

Most famously, the Catalan membership overcame a 4-0 first-leg deficit inside the 2016-17 spherical of 16 with a 6-1 win on the Spotify Camp Nou in a fixture christened by Spanish media as La Remontada — the comeback of all comebacks.

“With Paris, I imagine we get an opponent that is clearly a very highly effective workforce, quite a lot of explicit particular person prime quality, nevertheless I actually really feel like this season significantly they made an unlimited step as a workforce,” Barcelona’s Ilkay Gündogan knowledgeable ESPN. “They’re rising and it will likely be a difficult downside that we’ll face.”

Madrid and Metropolis even have very newest historic previous inside the Champions League having met inside the semifinals of the earlier two seasons. Madrid will host the first leg on April 9 or 10 and the return could be the week after in Manchester.

Pep Guardiola’s workforce beat Madrid en path to their maiden title closing yr behind a crushing 4-0 win on the Etihad, whereas in 2021-22, Madrid staged a typically resilient fightback to steal the tie and progress.

Madrid director Emilio Butragueño talked about after Friday’s draw: “They’re the champions, everyone knows each other fully, I have not received to elucidate all the virtues that Metropolis has.

“There are going to be two magnificent video video games for most of the people. There are top-level avid gamers and two tremendous video video games await us. We’re excited that the workforce may be as a lot because the obligation, we now need to get a fantastic finish outcome on the Bernabeu to defend it there.

“All the teams which have arrived to date are sturdy. In the long term it’s two video video games. The video video games have been levelled and any particulars can decide the tie. The eight teams remaining could possibly be champions, let’s study what happens. All the ties are engaging. We now have received Metropolis. We now have now to easily settle for it. They’ve a very extremely efficient workforce and we even have a wonderful workforce too.”

Guardiola talked about in his Friday info conference that the contests in the direction of Madrid have gotten customary.

“It’s a bit little little bit of customized, three years in a row we’re having fun with the king of the opponents on account of they’ve gained 14 Champions Leagues, nevertheless it is what it is,” he talked about.

The first legs of the quarterfinals will occur on April 9 and 10, with the return video video games each week afterward April 16 and 17.

This yr’s Champions League remaining is being held at Wembley in London on June 1. It is going to seemingly be the eighth time England’s nationwide stadium has hosted UEFA’s showpiece membership fixture.