Man City, Real Madrid clash in Champions League QF
PARIS: Holders Manchester City will come up against record 14time winners Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals (QFI after being paired together in Friday’s draw, meaning the sides will meet in a third consecutive season in the competition.
Arsenal will face Harry Kane’s Bayern Munich, while Paris Saint-Germain meet Barcelona and Atletico Madrid will take on Borussia Dortmund in the other ties.
Pep Guardiola’s City will travel to the Spanish capital for the first leg on April 9, with the return in Manchester on April 17.
City beat Madrid in the semifinals last season on the way to winning the Cham-League pions for the first time, following a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu with a stunning 4-0 victory at home in the second leg.
Real came out on top when the teams met in the last four a year earlier, before going on to defeat Liverpool in the final.
The Spanish giants also won a semifinal clash between the teams in 2016, just before Guardiola took over at City, while the English club emerged victorious in the last 16 in 2020.
“It looks like a little bit of tradition — three years in a row playing the king of the competition, who have won 14 Champions Leagues, but it is what it is,” Guardiola said at a press conference ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup quarterfinal against Newcastle United.
“Hopefully, we can arrive in a good moment. It’s still a few weeks before the first game in Madrid, and we will see.”
“They are the champions, and we know each other perfectly, so I don’t need to explain the virtues of City,” Emilio Butragueno, the former Real player who is now the club’s director of institutional relations, told Spanish broadcaster Movistar+.
“Two tremendous games await us.”
The draw threw up a set of mouthwatering ties with Arsenal being rewarded with a clash against German champions Bayern after beating Porto on penalties to qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time since 2010.
The Gunners will host the first leg at the Emirates Stadium on April 9, which will see for- mer Tottenham Hotspur talisman Kane — who has so far scored 36 goals in his first season at Bayern — return to London.