The UEFA Champions League draw in Nyon, Switzerland, blessed us with some blockbuster quarterfinal fixtures.
Europe’s most majestic club competition is fast approaching its climax, with only eight clubs left in the competition.
The octet will battle for a place in the 2023 UEFA Champions League final, scheduled for June 10 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
Holders Real Madrid will host Chelsea FC in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in April. A week later, the Los Blancos will travel to Stamford Bridge to face Graham Potter’s men.
The pair, who are the last two winners of the competition, have knocked each other out en route to those titles. However, this time around, the odds are highly stacked in favor of Real Madrid.
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Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola will face his former club FC Bayern Munich in the first leg at the Etihad in early April. The Premier League champions will visit the Bavarians in the return leg at the Allianz Arena.
It’s a mouth-watering tie that is guaranteed to keep most fans glued to their TV sets from start to finish. The team that will come out victorious from this blockbuster encounter will face either Chelsea or Real Madrid next.
Dark horses Napoli will travel to the San Siro stadium in the first leg to battle AC Milan. The current leaders of the Italian league are playing in the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time.
The second leg is scheduled for the Diego Maradona Stadium in April. Napoli will be keen on replicating Diego Maradona’s heroics from 1989, when the club won its first UEFA Cup.
SL Benfica have been equally impressive as Napoli in Europe this season. The Portuguese club finished ahead of a star-studded Paris Saint-Germain in the group. And that was followed by putting seven goals past Club Brugge in the last 16.
They face Inter Milan in Portugal for the quarterfinal first leg before traveling to Italy in April. If SL Benfica are to reach the final, they have to get past the Italian barricade of Internazionale and AC Milan or Napoli.
