We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
We were back at UEFA headquarters for the Champions League draw this morning – former Real Madrid midfielder Hamit Altintop was in charge of the home teams and former winner Patrick Kluivert was handling the away sides.
Altintop actually drew out his old club first, before the Dutchman handed them a familiar opponent: Real played Chelsea in the semi-final in 2021 and the quarter-final in 2022. Real lost the former and won the latter, so this has the makings of a trilogy bout; who will land the knockout blow?
The second tie, Benfica v Inter, is one of those intriguing match-ups whereby both sides will fancy their chances of winning – but that’s because both sides have a really good chance of winning. And the last time these two played each other in this competition was a pretty big deal and rather a long time ago: the 1965 final. Inter triumphed 1-0 on that day, so this one’s been brewing up nicely for 58 years.
Manchester City’s tie against Bayern München will have plenty of people licking their lips. The two have never actually faced each other in the knockout phase of this competition, but have clashed six times in the group stages since the 2011/12 season. Bayern have won four of those fixtures to City’s two, though the most recent tie was in City’s favour with late goals from Sergio Agüero to make it 3-2. And there have been 19 goals in total across those six matches, so buckle up.
Finally, an all-Italian tie between AC Milan and Napoli. Despite the Rossoneri having secured seven titles in this competition, in contrast to the Azzuri reaching the last eight for the first time, the latter go into this one as favourites. They are top scorers so far this season with 25 goals in their eight matches; they have also won every one of their home games in that period, scoring at least three goals each time.
We also know how the semi-finals will pan out: the winner of the Real v Chelsea tie will play the winner of Manchester City v Bayern, while the victor from Benfica v Inter will take on either AC Milan or Napoli. Start doing your calculations…
