[SPORT] Champions League draw: Madrid and Barça against coconuts and Atlético celebrate their luck

[YaKuZa--BoSs]

Madrid or City-Juve or Lyon, Barça or Naples-Chelsea or Bayern, Leipzig-Atlético and Atalanta-PSG will be the quarterfinals of the Champions League Express in Lisbon.

 

 

The new normal of Champions League draws, as occurs in so many sectors of life, is very similar to the old one. Now, instead of having managers in the seats of the UEFA headquarters in Nyón, they are each in their city, connected by videoconference that sometimes works and sometimes. But there is still Giorgio Marchetti, the classic UEFA man for hype and balls, and a great former player nearby. In this case, the innocent hand was Paulo Sousa (difficult to recognize for whoever lost track after retiring as a footballer), a nod to the improvised resolution of the Champions in Lisbon.

It was the hands of the Portuguese midfielder who drew two very different paths towards the Champions League final on August 23. To begin with, because in one there are still eight teams and in the other there are only four left. All the teams that have the round of 16 round pending have fallen in the same part of the quadrant, and that includes Real Madrid and Barcelona, who could challenge a hypothetical classic in the semifinals. An Atlético was happier leaving the draw to avoid crossing his two national rivals until a supposed final. It should be remembered that the round of 16 round will be played where it belonged and the quarterfinals, semifinals and final will be a single match in Lisbon. In all cases, without an audience in the stands.

Of course Madrid and Barça still have a lot of work. The whites will have to come back at Manchester City home (1-2 in the first leg) and the Catalans host a risky duel at the Camp Nou against the recent Cup champion Naples (1-1). In case of overcoming their crosses, those of Zidane will face each other in the quarterfinals with Olympique winner Lyonnais-Juventus (1-0 on French soil). Barcelona would most likely do so with Bayern, who beat Chelsea (0-3) in London before the world stopped. Cristiano threatens Madrid and the fittest team in Europe in this final stretch of the season challenges Barcelona, two major challenges.

Atlético faces the final phase of Lisbon more calmly, having already resolved its second round match against Liverpool. He already knows that his rival in the quarterfinals will be RB Leipzig, who eliminated Tottenham in the previous round. The German team is not exactly a bicoca, but given the possibilities of the draw and the teams that remain in competition, those of Simeone can consider themselves lucky. Leipzig will also no longer have Timo Werner, recently transferred to Chelsea. To overcome that crossing, Atlético would face each other in the semifinals with the winner of the Atalanta-PSG, with the mystery of how it will sit for the Neymar team for so long without playing an official match.

 

 

FINAL PHASE CALENDAR
7-8 August: return of the round of 16

12-15 August: quarterfinals (already in Lisbon)

August 18-19: semifinals

August 23: end