Defending champion Barcelona will take on Italian power AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, the toughest match-up in the quarterfinal draw, which took place on Friday.
While Barca earned the toughest draw, Real Madrid was given the easiest quarterfinal draw, taking on Cyprus-based APOEL Nicosia. Barcelona and Real Madrid are on opposite ends of the draw and can only meet in the final.
Here is the quarterfinal draw, along with the semifinal pairings:
Barcelona vs. AC Milan, winner faces winner of Benfica vs. Chelsea
Marseille vs. Bayern Munich, winner faces winner of Real Madrid vs. APOEL Nicosia
The first legs of the quarterfinal series take place March 27th/28th, with the second legs set for April 3rd/4th.
The semifinals will be played April 17th/18th and April 24th/25th. The UEFA Champions League Final is set for May 19th in Munich.
What do you think of the draw? Which match-ups are you most excited for? Think a Barcelona-Real Madrid final is inevitable? If not, who do you see spoiling the all-Spain final?
Share your thoughts below.
Milan is going to get spanked back to reality
It’s quite a draw — and I wouldn’t want to imply that it was anything other than a truly random draw, but if this is probably the draw most likely to produce semifinal match-ups with the 4 marquee clubs, Barca, Real, Bayern and Chelsea. Possibly, if Chelsea were pitted against APOEL instead, with Bayern facing Benfica — perhaps that might be a more ironclad set-up, but that’s it.
UEFA must be drooling over the TV prospects for the semis and the finals. Not only are the likely to see the big 4 in the semis, it’s setting up a dream final pitting Barca against Real. Randomly drawn, of course.
Mourinho is growing his fingernails for this one. Someone is losing a retina for sure.
Chelsea fans, this is unrelated, but I just bought tickets for April 7th vs. Wigan. Sitting in the Shed End. It’s my first EPL game. Has anyone a) been to Stamford Bridge and/or b) sat in the Shed End??? Holler back.
It would easily be one of the most anticipated Champions League finals in history. It would be a cannot-miss match of epic proportions. A brawl would be guaranteed.
Who doesn’t want to see the world’s clear best teams face off in the ultimate club competition… and did I mention they freaking hate each other?
*the other teams they beat to even get to the Group Stage…
Are you kidding? APOEL has already left Zenit, Porto, Shakhtar and Lyon in the dust… not to mention the teams they beat (all top-table from various Euro-league teams) to get into the final 8 of the UCL.
I’d say they’d have a chance in the CCL. From here out in the UCL is a different story.
This was a shameless ploy to have El Clasico as the final. I hope it blows in the face of whoever wants it.
Go APOEL!
I’d like to see Chelsea get their chance to exact revenge, but I think some of this stuff about the referee is a little bit ridiculous.
There was one stone-cold penalty not given (the Pique handball), in my view. All the others were debatable, but none of them went their way. It happens. You hate for it to happen, but it does.
Let’s not forget about Barcelona being reduced to 10 men in that very same game for a, frankly, undeserved “last man” tackle (in my own view, of course) from Anelka clipping his own ankles.
So, my view in the matter can be summed up in one question. How can anyone say Chelsea “should” have beaten Barcelona when they couldn’t defend a 1-0 lead at home with a man advantage? They decided not to attack late and got punished by a brutal strike.
I don’t mean to offend, but the history of this tie has been subject to a little bit of revisionist history, in my opinion.
Milan has a chance if just one of the smurfs (Iniesta, Xavi, and Messi) is out. In all the games I’ve watched this year, whenever Cesc or Thiago or both play in their stead, the level drops considerably. Pep is very loyal to his players, but Tello is playing better than Pedro, and needs to start.
I hope Chelsea beats Barcelona like they should have in 2009 if it had not been for some particularly horrible and peculiar refereeing.
I think that it’s interesting that Pep said that the one team he doesn’t want to play is AC Milan, and he got them.
Mourinho said that he would love to play Chelsea in the final and he got that (if chelsea were to win it’s side of the group). More than likely, a coincidence, but worth noting.
Probably not b/c both of these teams have depth beyond belief, and the bad blood is always there no matter if its an A Team or B.
As a Barca fan i must say that im a little nervous about this draw, Milan and then the winner of Chelsea Benefica? Tough task, dream to meet Madrid in the Finals
Real Madrid and Barcelona play April 21 in La Liga. Three days before the semi-final second leg. Due to resting players and Real having the league wrapped up, will this be the least exciting Classico in years?
I’m not sure why everyone is so quick to dismiss APOEL. It’s a david and goliath story to be sure, especially since Real Madrid are playing with a real chip on their shoulder this year, but I do think that they’re more likely to stumble on this type of challenge than if they were facing a heavier hitter.
Still bummed about Napoli
there will be 3 awesome matches:
barca edging milan in extra time
mardid edging bayern in normal time
and the coin toss for who wins the barca/madrid superfinal
barca will have to hope that xavi & iniesta’s legs are in fully rested form.
hopefully apoel can hange for a while in their first game.
Excellent, easy road for APOEL to get into the finals…
Although I wouldn’t pick APOEL Nicosia to win the Concacaf Champions League, I can help but cheer for them.
Go APOEL! Shock the world!
Barca vs AC will be 1 heck of a match. I’ll be sure to skip work for that 1 😛
Although Real Madrid have the easiest game at first, it gets compensated by the almost sure semifinal against Bayern.
On the other hand, Barca will probably get more worked out by Milan than in the other semifinal.
We will have the all Spanish final and that’s the way it should be until other teams rise to their level.
Saivan