Draws set in Champions League semifinals
By Graham Dunbar NYON, SWITZERLAND » A Champions League semifinal draw steeped in the competition’s rich history paired Real Madrid and Bayern Munich on Friday, and then matched Liverpool with Roma.
Two-time defending champion Madrid will first play Bayern in Munich on April 25 in a clash of powerhouse clubs with a combined 17 European titles.
“It’s clear who are favorites. We’re up against the Champions League winners,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.
Madrid and Bayern have never met in the final — despite a combined 25 appearances in the 63-yearold competition’s title game — but this will be their seventh semifinal meeting.
In contrast, Liverpool and Roma played in the 1984 final, the only other season in which the Italian club advanced as far as the semifinals. Liverpool won that match in the Italian club’s Olympic Stadium home.
Anfield will stage the first leg on April 24, when Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah will reunite with the Roma teammates he left last June in a 42 million euro ($50 million) transfer.
“Everybody knows how big Mo’s impact on our season has been,” Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said in comments published on the club’s website. “Where would they (Roma) be if Mo was still there?”
The pairing of American-owned clubs pits a Liverpool team tied to the Boston Red Sox against Roma president James Pallotta, who has a stake in the Boston Celtics.
Both return games will be played the following week. The final is scheduled for May 26 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. The Ukrainian city’s mayor, former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, was at UEFA headquarters Friday for the draw.
Madrid, seeking a record-extending 13th European title, is in the semifinals for the eighth straight year. That run has included three titles and four losses at the semifinal stage, including to Bayern in 2012 on penalties in Madrid.
Bayern, a five-time champion, also eliminated Madrid in the semifinals of 1976, 1987 and 2001.
Madrid beat a Bayern team coached by Pep Guardiola home and away in the 2014 semifinals, and also won their 2000 semifinal matchup.
A Champions League final for Bayern would be a fitting end to coach Jupp Heynckes’ career with the German champions, who announced Friday it had hired Niko Kovac to take over next season.