Champions League nightmare for Man City

THE road ahead is a nightmare for Manchester City with Juventus and Bayern Munich or Barcelona blocking their path to the final … and Chelsea also have the tough side of the Lisbon draw in the Champions League.

City will face either Juventus or Lyon, should they progress to the Champions League quarter-finals, while Chelsea will face either Napoli or Barcelona if they stage an almighty comeback against Bayern Munich.

City look set to reach the quarter-finals after a brilliant 2-1 last-16 first-leg win at Real Madrid on February 26. The two teams will meet again at the Etihad Stadium on August 7 to conclude that tie.

Meanwhile, Chelsea face an uphill battle to reach the last eight after losing 3-0 at home to Bayern Munich on February 25. The return leg in Bavaria also takes place on August 7.

Elsewhere RB Leipzig, conquerors of Tottenham in the last 16, will face Atletico Madrid – with the latter disposing of defending champions Liverpool at the same stage too.

The other tie sees Italian outfit Atalanta face French giants Paris Saint-Germain. All the quarter-finals will take place across August 12-15.

Should City progress through their last-16 and quarter-final ties, Pep Guardiola’s men would face Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Napoli in the semi-finals.

RB Leipzig or Atletico Madrid will face Atalanta or PSG in the other semi-final, which will provide the “home” team for the final at the empty Estadio da Luz on August 23.

It was a positive draw for those four clubs as they have managed to avoid the big-hitters.

PSG and Lyon have been the only two teams still in the competition that have not returned to action domestically, after the French top flight was finished early due to the pandemic.

Beforehand though, there are four last-16 ties to be completed.

Aside from City and Chelsea, the second legs of Juventus versus Lyon (0-1 on aggregate) and Barcelona versus Napoli (1-1 on agg) need to be played.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be one-legged affairs as opposed to the traditional two.

The competition’s completion will take over 12 days in Portugal with all ties behind closed doors. The final will be held at Benfica’s Stadium of Light on August 23 in Lisbon.