NYON: As the club move closer to replacing their Russian ownership, European champions Chelsea were drawn on Friday to play record 13-time winner Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The first pairing drawn at UEFA headquarters sent Real coach Carlo Ancelotti back to the London club where he won a league and cup double a year before being fired by then-owner Roman Abramovich.

“Ancelotti is a fantastic coach,” Real director Emilio Butragueo said of the Italian, who led the team to their 10th European title during his first spell with the club. “He knows how to manage every detail to get the most out of the players.”

Abramovich, a Russian billionaire with ties to Vladimir Putin, gave up control of the club before having his assets in Britain frozen this month in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On Friday, prospective new owners of Chelsea were meeting a deadline to submit bids.

As things stand, Thomas Tuchel’s team Chelsea will not have any fans at either leg after UEFA said it would uphold EU sanctions against Abramovich.

“The challenge cannot be higher,” Tuchel told reporters on Friday. “In general I think this game changes so much with spectators so hopefully we find a solution and I’m pretty sure everyone at the club, the board, will fight for a chance. Hopefully we make it happen somehow.”

All three English clubs avoided each other in the draw, as did all three Spanish teams.

Manchester City and Atletico Madrid were the next teams paired, while Liverpool were drawn to face Benfica and Bayern Munich will play Villarreal.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp played down talk that his side had got the soft option in Benfica.

“I know people will say we are the favourites and stuff like this, but that’s already the first mistake you could make,” he said on Friday. “We are too long in the business now to make these kinds of mistakes.”

CITY PLAY ATLETICO

The City-Atletico pairing sets up a stark contrast of playing styles under long-time coaches Pep Guardiola and Diego Simeone both seeking a first European title for their clubs.

It also gives Atletico a quick return to the city where this week they eliminated Manchester United with a 1-0 victory typical of the defensive solidity Simeone builds into his team.

“We have to be clever, we know they will have the chances to score,” Guardiola said on Friday. “We go to a nice stadium, incredible stadium and we go to try and reach the semi-final, hopefully they are worried to play against us.”

The draw included five former champions and five clubs who were involved in the failed Super League project last April.

Villarreal are an exception in both categories, the only team left in the draw that has never reached the final.

In the semi-finals, City or Atletico will play Chelsea or Real, and Benfica or Liverpool will face Villarreal or Bayern.

The first legs of the quarter-finals will be played on April 5 or 6, with the return games the following week. The semi-finals will be played between April 26 and May 4. The final is scheduled for May 28 at Stade de France in the Paris suburbs.

The Stade de France was a late replacement for original host St Petersburg. UEFA stripped the Russian football federation of the right to host the final after the invasion of Ukraine.

BARCA FACE FRANKFURT

Russia’s last remaining club in European competitions, Spartak Moscow, was removed by UEFA from the Europa League, leaving RB Leipzig to get a bye into the quarter-finals.

Leipzig were paired with Atalanta on Friday, while Bundesliga rivals Eintracht Frankfurt was drawn to face Barcelona.

Barca are playing in the second-tier competition for the first time since 2004, following 17 straight seasons in the knockout rounds of the Champions League when it had Lionel Messi in the squad.

Also, West Ham United will face Olympique Lyonnais and Braga will take on Rangers.

The final will be played at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville on May 18.

There were three former European champions in the draw for the third-tier Europa Conference League in its debut. Feyenoord will face Slavia Prague, PSV Eindhoven will take on Leicester City, and Olympique de Marseille will play PAOK Thessaloniki.

AS Roma, who are coached by Jose Mourinho, were drawn to face Bodo/Glimt, a Norwegian club which has reached the quarter-finals of a European tournament for the first time.

The final of the new third-tier continental competition will be played in the Albanian capital, Tirana, on May 25.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2022