EUROPE’S BEST
THE road to a Champions League record for Bayern Munich coach Carlo Ancelotti will go through his old club – defending European champion Real Madrid.
When Ancelotti fulfilled Madrid’s quest for the “Decima” – a record-extending 10th European Cup title – in 2014, he joined a select group of five coaches to win the competition with two different clubs. He also coached AC Milan to two Champions League titles.
“Matches against Real are obviously special for me,” Ancelotti said. “It’ll be exciting for me to go back to Madrid.”
Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane was Ancelotti’s assistant for the 2014 title, and won a Champions League of his own last May to cap his coaching debut season.
Barcelona faces Juventus in a rematch of the 2015 final, Champions League newcomer Leicester will face Atletico Madrid, and Borussia Dortmund will take on Monaco.
The first legs will be played Champions League - Quarter Finals: Borussia Dortmund (Ger) v Monaco (Fra), Atletico Madrid (Esp) v Leicester (Eng), Bayern Munich (Ger) v Real Madrid (Esp), Juventus (Ita) v Barcelona (Esp) Europa League - Quarter Finals: Anderlecht (Bel) v Manchester United (Eng), Celta Vigo (Esp) v Genk (Bel) , Ajax (Ned) v Schalke (Ger), Lyon (Fra) v Besiktas (Tur) on April 11-12, with the return matches on April 18-19.
Madrid and Bayern have combined to win 16 European titles and both currently lead their national leagues.
One club, however, will end its recent streak of reaching the Champions League semifinals for five straight years.
Barcelona won its fifth European title two years ago, beating Juventus 3-1 in Berlin. A Champions League final on June 3 in Cardiff, Wales, would be Barcelona coach Luis Enrique’s final match before leaving the club.
Juventus did oust Barcelona in the quarterfinals in 2003, en route to one of its competitionrecord six losing finals against a Milan team coached by Ancelotti 14 years ago.
Leicester is making its debut in the competition, and is the only team in the draw which has never played in a Champions League final. But Leicester and Atletico have played before. The Spanish club, who fell to Real Madrid in last year’s final in Milan, eliminated Leicester in the first round of the UEFA Cup in 1997.