Champions and Europa League 2021-22 quarter-final, semi-final draws, as they happened

Liverpool vs Benfica previous meetings

Six-time winners Liverpool and two-time winners Benfica have crossed paths four times in European competition. The first time was at the quarter-final stage in the 1977/8 European Cup, with the Reds winning home and away to advance 6-2 on aggregate on the way to their second European crown.

They met again at the same stage in 1983/4, with a similar result. Liverpool took the tie 5-1 over two legs and went all the way to the final where they beat Roma on penalties.

The following year they crossed paths in the Second Round. Liverpool ran out comfortable 3-1 winners at Anfield but lost the return leg 1-0 with Michael Manniche scoring the only goal of the game.

The most recent meeting was in the Last 16 of the 2005/6 Champions League. Luisão gave the Portuguese side a one-goal advantage from the first leg in Lisbon and took the return leg at Anfield 0-2 with goals from Simão and Miccoli to eliminate Rafa Benitez's defending champions.

City and Bayern, the bookies' favourites

Manchester City, Liverpool, and Bayern Munich are the bookmakers' favourites to be crowned European champions. City, who face Atletico Madrid in the quarter finals are at +200 odds to lift the Champions League, Liverpool are at +300, while their next rivals Benfica are at +15000.

Tuchel's Real Madrid record

The Chelsea boss certainly seems to have the measure of Real Madrid in the Champions League, having never been beaten by the Liga giants. That record reads a win and a draw with Chelsea, a win and a draw with PSG and two draws with Dortmund, for a total of 12 for and seven against. 

Against Ancelotti, the German tactician has a record of W3, D2, L2, with Chelsea, PSG and Dortmund while the Italian was in charge of Everton, Napoli and Bayern Munich.

SOCCER

How many times have Real Madrid and Chelsea met in the final phase of the Champions League?

With Chelsea preparing to take on Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the UEFA Champions league, fans are surely set for a mouth watering tie. Yet there may just be one person who will be approaching the two-legged affair with some degree of nostalgia. Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will be in for a reunion with his former club when the sides meet. Indeed, it was Ancelotti who guided the Londoners to the English Premier League and FA Cup double during his two years as manager at Stamford Bridge between 2009 and 2011.

Europa Conference League draw

José Mourinho's Roma were hammered 6-1 at Bodo/Glimt in the group stage of the Conference League, drawing a memorable response from the Portuguese, and the Norwegian side now stand in the way of a potential semi-final meeting for Roma with Leicester or PSV.

Moyes to stop free-scoring Lyon?

West Ham reached the quarters of the Europa League by knocking out Sevilla 2-1 on aggregate after the Liga side were prevented from finding the net in London. Overall, the Hammers have only conceded four over the course of the whole competition while Lyon have scored more than any other side.

Lewandowski on track to top score

Robert Lewandowski's hat-trick against Salzburg saw the Poland striker overtake Sébastian Haller as the competition's top scorer this season. Lewandowski now has 12, five shy of Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time single-season record of 17.

Guardiola lauds 'unconditional' backing for Simeone

Pep Guardiola knows he must not allow Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid to smother Manchester City when the teams clash in the Champions League quarter-finals.

The City manager was impressed by how Atletico accounted for Manchester United in the previous round, preventing the Red Devils imposing their game on the second leg at Old Trafford.

A 1-0 win for Atletico carried Simeone's team through to the last eight as 2-1 aggregate winners, and now Guardiola and Simeone – arguably the two best coaches in world football – will go head to head on the touchline.

Guardiola believes Simeone has a job for as long as he wants it at Atletico, pointing to that security and board support as being telling in the success the club have had, notably in winning last season's LaLiga title.

He also acknowledges that Atletico are so expert in the tenacious style they play, that even a team of City's level can be majorly tested.

"They are what they are, and they're able to avoid who you are. This is the biggest quality of Atletico Madrid," Guardiola said. "You try to impose your game but sometimes it is so difficult."

Liverpool happy to avoid an English opponent in Champions League draw

Jurgen Klopp has said the one thing he wanted Liverpool to avoid in Friday's Champions League draw was a tie against another Premier League team.

The Reds' manager will have been relieved to see them drawn against Portuguese side Benfica for the quarter-finals of Europe's premier competition.

Fellow English representatives, Chelsea and Manchester City, were drawn against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid respectively, while Villarreal will play Bayern Munich.

Should Liverpool get past Benfica, they will face the winner of that latter tie in the semi-finals.

Speaking to the club's official website, Klopp said it would be a "mistake" to underestimate Benfica, but did say he hoped to avoid more familiar opposition.

"The only thing I didn’t want to have – I would have taken everybody – but the only thing I didn't want was an English team," he said. "We had that in the past and we went through [2018 v Man City], we played a final against an English team [2019 v Tottenham], it’s absolutely fine, in the final anyway, you take whoever you get.

"But actually I was just happy it's not an English club, not only because of the quality but because of the competition as well, we play them often enough during a season and it's good if you play somebody else in the European competitions."

UEFA reveals Road to Sevilla branding

During the draw for the UEFA Europa League on Friday morning, fans could see he new branding for the competition as the countdown to the final in the Andalusian capital begins. The design features some of Seville’s most famous landmarks, with the Plaza de España in the centre of the design.

The Europa League final takes place on 18 May at Sevilla FC's Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

City remain UCL favourites post draw

There has been no change in the favorites to win the 2021-22 Champions League following Friday's draw with Man City, Bayern Munich and Liverpool still regarded as favourites to lift the trophy in Paris on 23 May.

The final UEFA draw of the day took place this afternoon with the ties for the Conference League being drawn:

Bodo/Glimt-AS Roma 

Feyenoord-Slavia Praga

Olympique de Marsella-PAOK

Leicester City-PSV Eindhoven

Bayern refuse to underestimate Villarreal

Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich will also not be under-estimating a Villarreal side who knocked out Juventus in the last 16.

"They showed in the round of 16 what they're capable of," warned CEO Oliver Kahn. "For that reason we have to be on our guard and approach the task with full concentration. No one can think that they'll be two easy games."

Klopp plays down tag of favourites

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp played down talk that his side had got the soft option in Benfica, especially with the second leg at Anfield.

"I know people will say we are the favourites and stuff like this, but that's already the first mistake you could make," he said on Friday. "We are too long in the business now to make these kinds of mistakes."

Chelsea sale deadline day

Champions League holders and quarter-finalists this year, Chelsea FC are up for sale with Friday night being the deadline for bidders to table offers to buy Chelsea, with business people from different continents forming unlikely alliances to acquire the Premier League club.

Chelsea were initially put up for sale by owner Roman Abramovich following Russia's invasion of Ukraine before sanctions were imposed on the Russian oligarch by the British government.

The European champions are currently operating under a special licence and are now effectively controlled by the British government.

Raine Group, a U.S. bank, has been overseeing the sale process since before the Russian billionaire was sanctioned, and have set a 2100 GMT deadline for offers to be submitted.

Raine will make a decision around the preferred bidder and the government will only step in once they have received satisfactory evidence that Abramovich will not make any financial gain.

From there it will be up to the prospective buyer to pass the Premier League's Owners' and Directors' Test before completing their takeover.

Benfica confirm ko times/dates vs Liverpool

Tuchel: 'The challenge cannot be higher'

Former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti will return to his old club for the first leg and current Stamford Bridge boss Thomas Tuchel described the challenge as a "tough one".

As things stand, Chelsea will not have any fans at either leg after UEFA said it would uphold EU sanctions against Russian owner Roman Abramovich who has had his assets frozen since announcing he was selling the club.

"The challenge cannot be higher," Tuchel told reporters on Friday. "Playing the second leg in the Bernabeu with spectators is a big challenge. We know what's coming, but there is a big excitement around this fixture.

"It's nice to avoid the English clubs, it's always nice to play European teams."

Asked about the prospect of having no Chelsea fans at either leg, Tuchel said: "In general I think this game changes so much with spectators so hopefully we find a solution and I'm pretty sure everyone at the club, the board, will fight for a chance."

Barça-Eintracht (Europa League)

Barcelona can begin to plot their route to the Europa League final after learning which teams stand in the way of them reaching the Seville showpiece.

Xavi's side must tackle Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt in the quarter-finals, before the winner of that tie goes on to tackle West Ham or Lyon in the semi-finals.

This competition represents the last realistic chance for Barcelona to finish the season with silverware, given they are out of the Copa del Rey and trail Real Madrid by 15 points in LaLiga.

Head coach Xavi was appointed in November, succeeding Ronald Koeman, and his side edged past Galatasaray at the last-16 stage as goals from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Pedri earned a 2-1 second-leg win in Istanbul following a goalless first leg.

Eintracht booked their last-eight place by getting the better of another Spanish side, Real Betis, on Thursday. It took an own goal in the 120th minute from Guido Rodriguez to secure a 1-1 draw on the night and a 3-2 aggregate success for Eintracht, who won the UEFA Cup in 1980 but cannot match Barcelona's European heritage.

Barcelona have won the European Cup or Champions League five times, but they have never lifted the trophy in the UEFA Cup or Europa League.

Unai Emery: 'Any opponent was going to be tricky'

Following Friday's UEFA Champions League draw that saw Villarreal set to face Bayern Munich, coach Emery brushed away suggestions that the German side are the most complicated opponent in the competition.

"No matter who we drew, the tie was always going to be complicated" stated the Irun born manager adding, "we'll certainly look forward to the competitive aspect of the game".

Europa League progress perfect Noble swansong

A West Ham United player since 2004, boyhood Hammer Mark Noble is set to retire at the end of the 2021-22 season and the progress in the Europa League of the East London side is he 'perfect way for the player to hang up his boots' stated Declan Rice speaking to BT Sport afer their round of 16 win over Sevilla on Thursday night.

Chelsea-R.Madrid fan situation

As things stand.... Chelsea-Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge will be staged behind closed doors.

Chelsea fans will not be given a ticket allocation for the game at the Bernabéu.

Simeone: 'I have a huge amount of respect for Guardiola'

Diego Simeone spoke to the media this morning ahead of Atletico's LaLiga game away to Rayo Vallecano and although refused to be drawn on the forthcoming Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester City, the coach did express his admiration for 'Sky Blues' boss Pep Guardiola.

Diego Simeone spoke to the media this morning ahead of Atletico's LaLiga game away to Rayo Vallecano and although refused to be drawn on the forthcoming Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester City, the coach did express his admiration for 'Sky Blues' boss Pep Guardiola.

Liverpool-Benfica ko times/dates confirmed

Villarreal-Bayern times, dates locked down

City-Atleti dates and times confirmed

The first leg will take place at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday 5 April, with kick off at 21:00 (CET) with the return fixture set for 21:00 at the Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday (13 April).

Real Madrid confirm ko times vs Chelsea

The Bernabeu side have published he dates and times for their tie against Chelsea with the first leg taking place in London with the return game being staged in Madrid a week later. 

This follows earlier confusion that the side from the capital would have to switch venues as Atleti were also drawn at home.

Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan

The Europa League final will take place in Seville on 18 May at the home of Sevilla FC, the 42,000 Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan is located close to he main train station in the city of Seville which is one of Span's most vibrant cities.

Atalanta vs RB Leipzig is another tricky tie to call with both sides recently advancing to the latter stages of the Champions League. Maybe the Italian's will just shade things over two legs?

It has to be said too, that Braga do have the most 'unique' ground of the 16 sides remaining in European football's top two competitions with the Municipal Stadium of Braga carved out of rock with just two main stands and a capacity of 32,000.

Rangers glory to cap 150h anniversary

The Glasgow giants would love to cap their 150th anniversary celebrations with a major UEFA title and after having eliminated Borussia Dortmund and Red Star Belgrade, they will fancy their chances against Portugal's Braga.

UEFA will confirm kick-off times for these game during the course of the day after consulting TV rights holders.

The Road to Seville

Barça fans happy with UEL draw

Some Barcelona fans are already talking about a possible trip to Lyon as they are confident that they (and indeed the Ligue 1 side) will progress from the quarter-final stage where Barcelona face Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt with Lyon taking on West Ham United.

Europa League: key dates

Quarter-final

First leg: 7 April

Second leg: 14 April

Semi-final

First leg: 28 April

Second leg: 5 May

Final

18 May (Seville) Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan

So, the patch to Seville is mapped out .....really tough games to call with little to choose among all eight participants

..and finally to decide the 'home' team for the Seville final..... the winners of the West Ham-Lyon/ Einracht-FCB will be at home for logistical reasons

Semi-final 1: Winners of RBL-Atalanta vs Braga-Rangers

Semi-final 2: Winners of: West Ham-Lyon vs Eintracht-Barça

UEL quarter-final draw

RB Leipzig-Atalanta

Eintracht-Barça

West Ham-Lyon

Braga-Rangers

The final game leaves Braga and Rangers with the Portuguese side at home first

The third game will see, West Ham United and the 'Hammers' will face Lyon.

The second tie will see....Eintracht Frankfurt who will face FC Barcelona

All set, the first side out is.... RB Leipzig and the German side will face Atalanta

All set for the draw as Marchetti and Palop take their places and we're reminded that today's draw is open with no restrictions.....

Former Sevilla FC player Andres Palop is on hand to assist with the draw.... Palop speaking in Spanish laments the lack of the sides from the city in the competition. Palop suggests that Barcelona are clear favourites. 

UEFA's Giorgio Marchetti now takes to the stage and outlines the process ahead of the draw and once again he pays his respect to the people of Ukraine and pleads for peace.

Before the draw starts, a quick video reel of some of the best action from the round of 16.

Same format as the UCL draw, we'll have both quarter and semi-final draws this morning.

The draw for the Europa League will, once again be hosted by Pedro Pinto and Giorgio Marchetti.

Confession time... I do rather like the Europa League 'anthem' !

As things stand, pre-draw, FC Barcelona are key favourites to lift the trophy in Seville come mid-May. RB Leipzig and Atalanta the other sides who are backed to win the competition.

We'll be back in Nyon in a matter of minutes for the Europa League draw. Every credit to UEFA for making these draws snappy affairs without too much 'filler' .... they really have improved over the years in what fans want from a draw procedure.

Re. the Chelsea-R.Madrid game, Real Madrid head of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueño has just confirmed that the first leg will take place in London and return leg in Madrid.... I guess we just need to wait for official UEFA confirmation given the confusion surrounding the tie and order of venues

As per the Champions League draw, this Europa League draw is open with no restrictions.

A bitter blow for both Seville based sides Real Betis and Sevilla FC last night as both clubs had their eyes set on a home-town final but extra-time defeats at the hands of Frankfurt and West Ham put paid to those dreams.

Europa League: key dates

Quarter-final

First leg: 7 April

Second leg: 14 April

Semi-final

First leg: 28 April

Second leg: 5 May

Final

18 May (Seville) Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan

Unlike the final eight teams in the UCL, thus really is a cross representation of European football with teams from: Italy, Scotland, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, and England.

Europa League draw:

The eight teams that remain in the competition are: Atalanta, FC Barcelona, Glasgow Rangers, Braga, RB Leipzig, West Ham, Lyon and Eintracht Frankfurt.

As we await the final kick-off times and date for the quarter-final Champions League ties, let's turn our attention to the Europa League with the draw less than 20 minutes away.

Reports coming out of the UK do suggest that the tie at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Real Madrid will be staged behind closed doors with the Londoners unable to sell match tickets and European games, apparently not part of a season ticket package.

This may all change should the sale of the club happen quickly with the deadline for bids, tonight at 2100 local time.

Liverpool have played Benfica ten times in European competitions wining six of the ten and falling four times. Games between the 'Reds' and the 'Eagles' have never ended in a draw.

Stamford Bridge-Santiago Bernabéu switch.

The reasoning for the switch is due to Atletico also being at home and for security reasons, having two sets of visiting fans creates logistical and security problems for local resources.

UEFA are expected to confirm the full dates/kick-off time within the next few hours and we'll bring you these as soon as they are confirmed.

Breaking:UEFA have confirmed that Real Madrid will play the first leg of the tie vs. Chelsea at the Bernabéu and the second leg will be played in London. It's still not known at this point in time if this game will be played with fans, given the Premier League's issues with ownership and sanctions placed on present owner Abramovich.

The Road to Paris...

Real Madrid have never beaten Chelsea in their five European meetings .... The 'Blues' progressed in last season's Champions League semi-final against Los Blancos and Madrid have been beaten three times with just two games tied in the five meetings!

Manchester City and Atletico Madrid have never met in European competitions with the quarter-final tie set to be first clash in Europe. Can Cholo Simeone's men reproduce performances that have seen them progress at the expense of Liverpool and more recently Man United ?

So, where does one start with the draw.... Bayern and Liverpool will feel the happier of the teams having drawn the underdogs in Villarreal and Benfica. Let's however, not forget that Villarreal are the Europa League holders and put three past Juventus in Turin on Wednesday.

Benfica will need to be at their best to get past Liverpool but one feels that the Premier League side will have too much.

UCL key dates

Quarter-finals

First leg: Tuesday 5 / Wednesday 6 April

Second leg: Tuesday 12 / Wednesday 13 April

Semi-finals

First leg: Tuesday 26 / Wednesday 27 April

Second leg: Tuesday 3 / Wednesday 4 May

Final

Saturday 28 May. Stade de France, Paris, France.

so much to digest here..... but finally, the draw for the 'home team' of the final..... and that will be the winners of the Villarreal, Bayern, Benfica-Liverpool... so a team wearing yellow or red will be involved in the Paris final!

which sees that the winners of the clash between winner of Benfica-Liverpool will play the victor from Villarreal-Bayern

first game will see, the winners of City-Atleti face he winner of Chelsea-Real Madrid

now we move to the semi-final draws.....

UCL quarter-final ties

Chelsea-Real Madrid

Man City-At. Madrid

Villarreal-Bayern

Benfica-Liverpool

so that just leaves two teams and Liverpool will face Benfica with the Lisbon based side at home in the first leg

Game three will see....Villarreal with Unai Emery's side set to face Bayern Munich

Next tie sees.....Man City, with last year's beaten finalist and they will take on Atletico Madrid

A repeat of last season's semi-final !!!

Draw time.... here we go.... first out is: Chelsea, the current champions will face....Real Madrid !

Giorgio Marchetti reminds us that today's draw is open with zero restrictions and reminds us that kick off times will be communicated later today.

The multi-linguist Pedro Pinto greets the former Inter, United and Arsenal star in French but conducts the presentation in English. Silvestre gives a shout out to Benfica and Villarreal, the clear underdogs among the eight remaining sides.

He reminds us that Paris' Stade de France will host the final for the first time since 2006 and greets today's draw assistant Mikael Silvestere.

A nice video clip reel of goals from the eight sides with a big electro soundbed starts the procedure as UEFA's Giorgio Marchetti now takes centre stage and shows his solidarity for the people of Ukraine....

We live in Nyon as UEFA's Pedro Pinto talks us through outline to the draw and introduces the eight teams. Great to see club delegates in the main hall in UEFA's HQ.

Chelsea sale deadline

Today is the deadline for bids to by Chelsea FC.

The current UCL holders are in today's draw but will be distracted by the ongoing sale discussions with he ongoing clouds of uncertainty still hanging over the Stanford Bridge side.

Over ten 'realistic' bids are expected !

Friday menu...

So, just over five minutes before the draw proceedings commence in Nyon. I'd imagine the whole process to take approximately 45 minutes as we'll have both quarter & semi-final draws, along with the draw to determine which team is the 'home side' for the Paris final which translates into wearing home kit, main dressing room, first billing on all communication.

At 1330 (CET) / 08:30 am ET, the draw for the Europa League quarter and semi-finals start and, again estimate the procedure to take approximately 45 minutes.

Liverpool are ready...

The six-time holders are looking forward to the draw but there was some bad news for 'Reds' fans this morning after coach Jurgen Klopp confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold would be out for a 'few weeks' with a hamstring problem.

Depending on the gradient, it's possible that the England international misses at least the first leg of Liverpool's UCL quarter-final clash too.

Teams from the same nation facing each other ....

This just one of the debates taking place on social media this morning whether fans want to see their sides being pitted with those from the same nation, and is particularly pertinent to LaLiga and Premier League sides with three representatives a-piece.

I do know that many Atletico Madrid fans are desperate to draw Real Madrid and avenge the final defeats suffered by Los Colchoneros in Milan and Lisbon.

The argument from many supporters too, is that if these match-ups happen now, then there is less chance of, say an all Spanish or English final....

It's an interesting debate !

Silvestre to assist with draw...

A reminder that former Inter, Arsenal and Man United player Mikael Silvestre will be on hand to assist Giorgio Marchetti with the draw this morning in Nyon.

This will be the third consecutive year that UEFA have been forced to move the Champions League final from the intended venue with the coronavirus pandemic forcing Istanbul to miss out in 2020 and 2021 with the final games taking place in Lisbon and Porto respectively. 

The Road to Paris...

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine, UEFA were quick to strip St.Petersburg (birthplace of Vladimir Putin) of hosting the final and confirmed that Paris will stage the game on 28 May.

This has led to Adidas withdrawing all St. Petersburg branded merchandise, in particular replica matchballs from sale and I imagine this morning, we'll see new 'Road to Paris' branding in UEFA's Nyon HQ for the draw.

Upon the conclusion of the draw, the exact dates and kick-off times will be confirmed by UEFA later this afternoon with Spanish capital Madrid the only city set to host two games with both Atleti and Real Madrid still involved in the competition.

SOCCER

2022 Champions League draw: why was the last-16 draw repeated?

The good news for UEFA today is that there are no restrictions to today's draw... no seeding and no territory restrictions and ultimately no repeat of December's unfortunate first draw !

2021/22 Champions League: key dates

Quarter-finals

First leg: Tuesday 5 / Wednesday 6 April

Second leg: Tuesday 12 / Wednesday 13 April

Semi-finals

First leg: Tuesday 26 / Wednesday 27 April

Second leg: Tuesday 3 / Wednesday 4 May

Final

Saturday 28 May. Stade de France, Paris, France.

Villarreal fans too hoping for Benfica

Benfica seem to the be the popular team on the 'who do you want to draw' surveys .... The Portuguese side did well to overcome Ajax with a 0-1 win in Amsterdam but are struggling domestically and are 12 points behind FC Porto in the Primeira Liga.

Of the eight remaining eight teams, only three have never won the Champions League-European Cup in Villarreal, Manchester Ciy and Atletico Madrid.

Madrid fans hoping for Benfica

Real Madrid fans are hoping to draw Portuguese side Benfica with the Lisbon based outfit being seen as the (on paper at least) least complicated rival of the final eight. Remember, Real Madrid did draw the Liga Portugal side in the first draw for the round of 16 that later had to be be repeated in December.

Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Liverpool remain the 1-2-3 in terms of favourites for the bookmakers. Benfica and Villarreal very much the outside bets.

Today's draw could throw up a series of possibilities.... an Atletico-Real Madrid  Spanish capital derby, City-Liverpool clash with both sides fighting for the Premier League title...City-Chelsea, a repeat of the 2021 final in Porto.

Silvestre to assist with draw procedure

The former Inter, Manchester United and Arsenal (amongst others) player Mikael Silvestre will be on hand to assist with today's draw.

Three representatives from both Spain and England with one German and one Portuguese side. For yet another year, Serie A teams are conspicuous by their absence.

The eight contenders....

Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Madrid were this week joined by Atlético Madrid, Benfica, Chelsea and Villarreal in the last eight of the 2021-22 UCL competition.

A busy morning of draw activity awaits with first up the quarter-final and semi-final draws for the Champions League. There will be a brief respite period to analyse the draws and at 13:30 CET / 08:30 am ET, the Europa League draws for both quarter and semi-finals will take place.

Proceedings will get underway in Nyon (Switzerland) at 12:00 local time / 07:00 am ET.

Hello and a very warm welcome to our live draw coverage ahead of the draw for the quarter-final (and semi-final) stages of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League.