The draw conducted at UEFA headquarters in Nyon put an English team vs Real Madrid again. This time, Real Madrid will face Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals. This is the third time in a row that Madridistas face the Blues in knockout stage. In 2021 Chelsea advanced to the Final after overcoming Madrid in a 3-1 aggregate score victory while in 2022 it was the time for Ancelotti’s men to defeat Chelsea in a 5-4 aggregate score victory which produced two spectacular games.
The first leg will be held at the Santiago Bernabéu on 12 April and the return will take place at Stamford Bridge one week later on 18 April. Both games will kick off at 9:00 pm CET. If they qualify, Real Madrid will take on the winners of the tie between Manchester City and Bayern Munich. A semi-final first leg would take place at home on 9 or 10 May, with the second leg coming away on 16 or 17 May. The final is set for Saturday 10 June at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
The English side are once again our quarter-final opponents, just as they were last season (5-4 on aggregate) on the way to La Decimocuarta. The two clubs have crossed paths on 4 occasions in European competition to date. Graham Potter's side are into the quarters having beaten Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the Round of 16, after topping their group against Milan, Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb. Sterling is the team's leading scorer with three.
Quarter-final ties will be as follows:
Real Madrid-Chelsea
Inter-Benfica
Manchester City-Bayern Munich
Milan-Napoli
Following the Champions League quarter-final draw held in Nyon, Real Madrid's Director of Institutional Relations Emilio Butragueño gave his thoughts on the tie with Chelsea. He said: “They're really tough opponents. We're in for two really exciting games and we know how hard they will be. We're hugely excited about this tie. Making the quarter-finals having knocked out Liverpool is reason to be satisfied. We're going to prepare as well as we possibly can and see if we can make the semi-finals. The Bernabéu means so much to us. I'm sure we'll have a fantastic atmosphere at our stadium and the fans will get behind us to help us win that game. This competition brings us such great joy”.
Same opponent as last year: “They have so much quality. Last year, it was an incredibly difficult tie. They have knocked us out in previous seasons as well. We know they will be two evenly matched games. They will want to do their job and we'll aspire to the same, I hope we can get that bit of luck you need in these games and everyone comes into it in good shape. If we are on a good run, we know we're capable of competing against anyone”.
Semi-finals: “We'll see. We have to focus on Chelsea, we know the potential they have. They are very strong in every aspect of the game and have top class players in every position. We have to remain focused on these two games because they're going to be incredibly tough.
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