Blockbuster meeting confirmed for UCL quarter-finals

One day, Real Madrid and Manchester City might actually get to meet in a stellar Champions League final – just not yet.

The winners of the last two tournaments will meet in the quarter-finals next month after Friday's draw set up another heavyweight clash between the unbeaten teams.

Real and City played each other in the semi-finals the previous two years when the path to the European title went through each other and will now meet again on April 10 and April 18 in a two-leg tie.

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“If you want to win you have to beat the best teams," Carlo Ancelotti said.

"They might be the best team in Europe at this moment. We have all the confidence in the world. If you want to win the Champions League, you have to beat City.”

Elsewhere, Kylian Mbappé’s path to a first Champions League title with Paris Saint-Germain in his farewell season there will next go through Barcelona.

Arsenal was drawn to play their quarter-final fixture against Bayern Munich, while Atletico Madrid was paired with Borussia Dortmund in the other game.

But it will be the Real Madrid-Man City games that will be the top attraction, even despite their many recent meetings.

“We need to remember that we beat them last season in the semi-final and we played at home in the second leg," Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain said.

UEFA also made the draw for the semi-finals, which ensured Mbappé and PSG cannot meet Real Madrid — the team he is expected to join in the summer — until the final.

That draw arguably put the four strongest teams in the same half.

When the new Champions League format takes effect next season, the two strongest teams in the expanded eight-game first phase will be seeded in a tennis-style knockout bracket and could not meet until the final.

This time, the winner between Real Madrid and Man City — the only teams to win all six games in the group stage — will be away in the first leg against Arsenal or Bayern.

The final is on June 1 at Wembley Stadium in London.