UEFA Europa League Draw: Inter vs Benfica, What’s Next?

Inter vs Benfica

We’ve got the UEFA Europa League draw coming up in less than 20 minutes! Inter vs Benfica – what do you think? Inter are up against more Portuguese opposition after beating Porto in the previous knockout round. As for Benfica, they may be happy to have avoided one of the huge hitters in the competition – and who wouldn’t want a trip to Milan? What a game we have in store: will Haaland be able to score his way past his old rivals? All three Serie A teams are on the same side of the draw, which is going to make for a fascinating quarter final round and beyond.

Other Side of the Bracket

As for the other side of the bracket, there are some huge names that are going to go home early… A re-run of last year’s drama would be nice! Chelsea took Real Madrid to the last seconds in the tie from the season just gone – can they go one better this year? Now we need to sort out the semi-final winners to see who is the home team in the final…

Semi-Final Draw

Now it’s time for the semi-final draw…A Serie A derby! The next one is AC Milan… Second draw coming up… Here we go! Time for the draw! Marchetti reminds us that this is a completely open draw… Pedro Pinto, in something of a fanboy moment, asks Patrick about the 1995 UCL final. “It was fantastic, I was very young and it was quite new for me. I was happy to be the youngest scorer in the Champions League final.” “All the teams that have qualified are great, if I had to pick then it would be Napoli.” He says “I’m enjoying being part of the draw. Thank you to UEFA on behalf of my people for the support and solidarity. Keep your support please.” “You have to prepare really well for the knockout round. It’s about mentality, experience and being on top at the right time.” “It will be a great experience to have the final in Turkey. The people are friendly and the food is good.”

Tournament Montage

Now we are being treated to a special montage of what’s happened so far in the tournament. Goals, goals, goals. 342 of them, in fact (we don’t get to watch them all now). Pedro Pinto is the host, as usual. He’s a lovely man. Giving us a nice little introduction here, basically saying how great everything is.

Champions League Draw

Right, we are off! A bit of Champions League music to open proceedings, as you might expect… We’re ready to get started! The trophy is there, as are the magic balls… The current champions are ready to go! Their previous quarter final opponents have been difficult to say the least, but they haven’t lost in this round since 2004. They have played Tottenham, Apoel Nicosia, Galatasaray, Borussia Dortmund, Atlético Madrid, Wolfsburg, Bayern, Juventus, Liverpool and Chelsea. Who do you think Real Madrid will get this time? Grab your popcorn or snack of choice and get ready… the draw is coming up any time now!

Trivia

Chelsea won the Champions League in 2020-21 with Tommy Tuchel, which was the second time they lifted the trophy. The first was back in 2011-12, but who was their manager? Answers to @English_AS on Twitter and I’ll post the first person to get the correct answer on the feed.

Semi-Final Draw Procedure

For the semi-final draw, four balls containing the words ‘Winners of quarter-final 1’ to ‘Winners of quarter-final 4’ are placed in a large bowl and mixed together. The first and second balls drawn determine the first semi-final pairing and the procedure is repeated with the remaining balls to complete the semi-final draw.

Klopp on the Champions League

Klopp: “Whoever wants to win the Champions League will have to beat Madrid and City” Not long to go now! Just over half an hour before the draw begins! Ex-Real Madrid and Bayern midfielder, Hamit Altintop, will help to conduct the draw today. Patrick Kluivert is also a guest at the draw. A lovely couple.

Top Performers

Sofascore with the goods… No prizes for guessing who is the top-rated player of the Round of 16, but it’s nice to see such results below Haaland. Kimmich is in second place after his performances against Messi and co. De Bruyne is there, are one would imagine, as is Fede Valverde. André Onana makes it onto the list for strong goalkeeping performances against Porto, where they got through 1-0 after 2 games.

Champions League Draw Expectations

Which games would you like to see come out of the Champions League draw? Let us know your thoughts, feelings, predictions and dreams on Twitter. You can find us @English_AS or @j4brennan.

Napoli: The Fun Team

Here’s the Monster Boy… Who is the most fun team in all the land? Well, it’s Napoli. And I was going to do the previews in alphabetical order then I realised I was too excited to say that this the first time Napoli have ever reached this stage of the competition! And what a way they have done it: Napoli beat Liverpool, Ajax and Rangers in an extremely tricky group to come top and then they took on Eintracht Frankfurt in the Round of 16. I would now normally say something like ‘oh, poor Eintracht’, but it was such fun that I’m not going to. Napoli destroyed them 5-0 over two games and became the highest goal scorers in the tournament. And they’re just a big blue box of fun, did I mention? They managed to pip Barça to the top 2 by going unbeaten against Xavi’s side, winning 1-0 at home and drawing a ludicrously entertaining game at Camp Nou 3-3.

Chelsea

After that, they came up against a tough Porto side, and managed to get through 1-0 over two legs after some solid defensive performances both home and away.

Graham Potter has had the opportunity of the Champions League to allow himself some breathing space from the frankly terrible Premier League form his side has seen over the course of the season. In Europe they overcame RB Salzburg, AC Milan and Dinamo Zagreb in the group stages, finishing top and losing just once. After that, they had the tricky task of coming back to Stamford Bridge and

Credit: https://en.as.com/soccer/uefa-champions-league-quarter-final-draw-live-online-teams-games-dates-real-madrid-opponent-n/

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