{"id":376629,"date":"2024-03-15T20:24:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-15T21:24:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=376629"},"modified":"2024-03-16T04:03:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-16T04:03:53","slug":"blockbuster-meeting-confirmed-for-ucl-quarter-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=376629","title":{"rendered":"Blockbuster meeting confirmed for UCL quarter-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One day, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/real-madrid\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Real Madrid\">Real Madrid<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/manchester-city\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Manchester City\">Manchester City<\/a> might actually get to meet in a stellar <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/football\/champions-league\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Champions League\">Champions League<\/a> final &#8211; just not yet.<\/p>\n<p>The winners of the last two tournaments will meet in the quarter-finals next month after Friday&#x27;s draw set up another heavyweight clash between the unbeaten teams.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2024-nathan-cleary-mary-fowler-showing-me-up-comments-reaction\/fdce320f-54ae-4f5e-846d-f931785a7944\" target=\"\" title=\"Cleary&#x27;s cheeky Fowler admission after tough start\ufeff\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Cleary&#x27;s cheeky Fowler admission after tough start\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2024-sharks-bulldogs-briton-nikora-hot-water-viliame-kikau-hit-results-highlights-video\/c123e15e-5a03-4113-a082-0eba06266142\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Ugly Kikau hit lands Sharks enforcer in hot water<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2024-benji-marshall-wests-tigers-coaching-criticism-round-one-canberra-raiders\/a9eaab94-da36-41c7-8051-20c615699286\" title=\"Benji slams coaching critics ahead of Tigers opener\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Benji slams coaching critics ahead of Tigers opener<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to win you have to beat the best teams,&quot; Carlo Ancelotti said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"8f4fea47-2651-4d5b-9249-8f4f1010fe7e\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/8f4fea47-2651-4d5b-9249-8f4f1010fe7e\" alt=\" Erling Haaland of Manchester City celebrates scoring with team mates during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Liverpool FC at Etihad Stadium on November 25, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Visionhaus\/Getty Images)\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/kylian-mbappe\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\">Kylian Mbapp\u00e9<\/a>\u2019s path to a first Champions League title with Paris Saint-Germain in his farewell season there will next go through Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal was drawn to play their quarter-final fixture against Bayern Munich, while Atletico Madrid was paired with Borussia Dortmund in the other game.<\/p>\n<p>But it will be the Real Madrid-Man City games that will be the top attraction, even despite their many recent meetings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to remember that we beat them last season in the semi-final and we played at home in the second leg,&quot; Man City director of football Txiki Begiristain said.<\/p>\n<p>UEFA also made the draw for the semi-finals, which ensured Mbapp\u00e9 and PSG cannot meet Real Madrid \u2014 the team he is expected to join in the summer \u2014 until the final.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"0832707d-ca62-42ce-a6fc-1dbcd372a151\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/0832707d-ca62-42ce-a6fc-1dbcd372a151\" alt=\"Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint Germain celebrates at the Parc des Princes.\" data-width=\"1024\" data-height=\"576\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That draw arguably put the four strongest teams in the same half.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>This time, the winner between Real Madrid and Man City \u2014 the only teams to win all six games in the group stage \u2014 will be away in the first leg against Arsenal or Bayern.<\/p>\n<p>The final is on June 1 at Wembley Stadium in London.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>One day, Real Madrid and Manchester City might actually get to meet in a stellar Champions League final &#8211; just not yet. The winners of <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=376629\" title=\"Blockbuster meeting confirmed for UCL quarter-finals\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":374181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376629"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=376629"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":376632,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376629\/revisions\/376632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/374181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=376629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=376629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=376629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}