Nyon: Defending champions Manchester City will play record winners Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals while Barcelona take on Paris St Germain after the draw was held at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon on Friday.
Real Madrid are 14-time champions and knocked City out in 2022 semi-finals but Carlo Ancelotti’s side were soundly beaten 5-1 on aggregate by Pep Guardiola’s team in the last four last year.
Three weeks to go
“We don’t have another option. It looks like a little bit of a tradition… playing the kings of the competition, winning 14 Champions Leagues,” Guardiola told reporters.
“Hopefully, we can arrive in a good moment. There’s still three weeks before the first game (leg) in Madrid, we’ll see.”
Paris St Germain, who are seeking their first Champions League title, will take on Barcelona while Atletico Madrid face Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund, which means all three Spanish teams have the opportunity to reach the semi-finals.
This may also be Kylian Mbappe’s last chance to win the title with PSG with the French forward set to leave the Ligue 1 club at the end of the season. PSG reached the final in 2020 where they lost to Bayern Munich.
Arsenal face Bayern
Arsenal returned to the quarter-finals for the first time in 14 years and they play Bayern Munich, which will give the German club’s star striker Harry Kane, who has scored 36 goals this season, another crack at his former north London rivals.
Kane has played Arsenal 19 times in all competitions and scored 14 goals. The former Tottenham Hotspur striker is the joint-top scorer in the Champions League this season alongside Antoine Griezmann, Erling Haaland and Mbappe with six goals.
Six-time champions Bayern have been Arsenal’s biggest nemesis in the competition, with the German side triumphing in all four knockout ties between the two sides.
The last time they met, Bayern beat Arsenal 10-2 on aggregate in the last 16 in 2017. Bayern have won each of the last three meetings 5-1.
Ban on supporters
However, Bayern will not have their fans in the away end due to a Uefa ban after their supporters threw fireworks onto the pitch during their 3-1 win at Lazio earlier this month.
“We certainly have the most difficult path ahead of us that you can imagine. We now face one of the best teams in Europe,” Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel said.
“They’ve been playing consistently at the top level for two years. They’re a homogenous, dangerous team, they score a huge number of goals. We’ll be ready, though. We know our qualities.”
Collision course
The path to the semi-finals was also set, with City and Premier League leaders Arsenal on a collision course if they advance.
The quarter-final draw was the last in the current format with Uefa adopting an all-new format from the 2024-25 season onwards.
The Champions League final will be held on June 1 at the 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium in London.
