Barcelona-Roma, Sevilla-Bayern, Juventus-Real Madrid and Liverpool-Manchester City, with the first teams mentioned playing the first leg at home. This is the verdict of the Champions League quarter-final draw, which they will be played on 3 and 4 April (first leg) and on 10 and 11 April (return). On 13 April there will then be the draw for the semi-finals, which will be played on 24/25 April and 1/2 May, while the final is scheduled for Saturday 26 May, in more than two months' time, in Kiev in the Ukraine.
The draw was completely free, without seeds and with the possibility of clashes between clubs from the same country, as in fact happened for City and Liverpool. For the first time since the 2006-2007 season, i.e. for 11 years, two Italian teams are present at this stage of the top European competition. On the other hand, there are even 3 Italian coaches, considering Montella from Seville: Italy is the most represented country on the bench.
Out of the 8 qualified teams, 5 teams have already won the competition: these do not include Roma, Manchester City and Sevilla. Real Madrid is the club that has won it the most, 12 times (with even 3 lost finals), while in this edition the only undefeated team, as well as the best defense with only two goals conceded in 8 games, is Barcelona. The best attack is instead that of Liverpool with 31 goals.
JUVENTUS-REAL MADRID
In the last 4 editions of the Champions League, the only team to have eliminated Real Madrid was Juventus, in 2015: the Spaniards instead brought home the Cup in 2014, 2016 and 2017. However, the final weighs on the black and whites lost heavily last June 3 in Cardiff, even if considering the double-round matches, like the one that is about to arrive, Juve have eliminated Real 6 times: 4 times out of 4 in the last 4 occasions. In general, the balance of precedents between the two teams is quite balanced: 9 Madrid victories, 8 Italian victories, 2 draws and 22 goals scored for each side.
ROME-BARCELONA
Roma are also surprisingly evenly matched in their clashes with Barcelona, although there have been few if any in the era of galactic Barcelona. They have won 1 time for each side, with 2015 draws. The last direct clash is in the group stage of 16-1, with Roma who managed a 1-6 draw at the Olimpico but were then paved 1-2002 in Spain. In 3, however, in the round of 0, Roma won 1-1, after a XNUMX-XNUMX draw at the Camp Nou. But it wasn't yet the invincible Barça built by Rijkaard onwards.
EUROPA LEAGUE
Instead, Lazio went better in the Europa League draw by drawing Salzburg, even if the Austrians are unbeaten in 18 consecutive matches in Europe. The other pairings: Atletico Madrid-Sporting Lisbon, Leipzig-Marseille and Arsenal-Cska Moscow. Outward matches on 5 April, return matches on 12.
