Champions League and Europa League Paths to the Final
1974
The draw for the Champions League and Europa League quarter-finals were conducted on Friday March 17th and each team knows the path they will need to take to reach the final.
Beginning with the Champions League and the draw is top heavy in terms of the big names in one side of the draw. We have Real Madrid vs Chelsea and this a clash between the two most recent winners of the competition. Real Madrid brushed aside Liverpool in the round of 16 and Chelsea beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on aggregate.
It is fair to say neither team will be happy with the draw but considering Chelsea’s overall form this season, Real Madrid must start as favourites. Completing the top half of the draw, we have Manchester City vs Bayern Munich.
Pep Guardiola failed to win the Champions League with Bayern Munich and his path to success with Manchester City this season looks extremely tough. Manchester City will enter the tie as favourites but success in the quarter-final leads to a difficult semi-final.
In the bottom half of the draw we have AC Milan vs Napoli, with the latter as the favourites to progress. Napoli have been fantastic in Serie A this season and with the second leg at home, will fancy their chances.
Benfica play Inter Milan in the other quarter-final in the bottom half and Benfica have shown enough quality in the Champions League this season to suggest they could get one over the Italians and set-up a meeting with Napoli in the semi-final.
Napoli must believe this is their opportunity to reach the final of the Champions League and whoever they face in a one-off game, they will believe they can win. With the Serie A title wrapped up early, it could be time for Naples to celebrate in Europe.
Switching to the Europa League and the top section of the draw looks to be the most difficult. Juventus meet Sporting Club, who knocked Premier League leaders Arsenal out of the competition in the previous round.
However, Juventus have improved as the season has developed and it appears the 15 point deduction in Serie A has made them more determined to succeed.
Manchester United, having already seen off the challenge of Barcelona and Real Betis face another Spanish team in Seville. The most successful club in the history of the competition, Seville are aiming to win the trophy for the seventh time but come up against a strong Manchester United team, who should have enough to progress.
Roma could come out on top against Feyenoord over two legs and Bayer Leverkusen are favourites to see off the challenge of Union Saint-Gilloise in the bottom half of the draw.
However, the real strength lies in the top half of the Europa League draw and the winners of the competition are likely to be the team that comes out on top in the semi-final, which could be between Juventus and Manchester United.
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