NYON — Holders Real Madrid will play 2021 winners Chelsea in the Champions League quarterfinals while Manchester City's Pep Guardiola will visit his former club Bayern Munich after the teams were drawn together on Friday.
Reigning Serie A champions AC Milan will face this season's runaway leaders Napoli in an all-Italian clash while Inter Milan play Portuguese side Benfica.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL DRAW
- Real Madrid v Chelsea
- Benfica v Inter Milan
- Manchester City v Bayern Munich
- AC Milan v Napoli
- * Team drawn first hosts the first leg
- * First legs: April 11-12
- * Second legs: April 18-19
The top half of the Champions League bracket is stacked pic.twitter.com/NHFeDLwfMK
— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 17, 2023
One of these sides will play in the Champions League final this season pic.twitter.com/YxYYSVteSM
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) March 17, 2023
Real, who beat last year's finalists Liverpool 6-2 on aggregate in the last 16, will face another English side after Graham Potter's Chelsea handed Borussia Dortmund their first loss of the year and qualified with a 2-1 aggregate win.
City, runners-up in 2021, will play 2020 champions Bayern who were managed by Guardiola for three seasons from 2013. Under the Spaniard they were perennial Bundesliga champions but fell at the Champions League semifinal stage each year.
Guardiola, who last won the Champions League with Barcelona in 2011, will be up against Bayern for the first time since his move from the German club to City in 2016.
The fixture also gives City striker Erling Haaland the chance to add to his tally of five goals against Bayern when he was with Dortmund.
Haaland's record against Bayern #UCLdraw || #UCL pic.twitter.com/zvMnzxEXel
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 17, 2023
The 22-year-old Norwegian, who has scored 39 goals in all competitions for City so far this season, is also the leading scorer in the Champions League this term with 10 goals after firing five past RB Leipzig in his last match.
"It will be a reunion with Pep Guardiola, with Erling Haaland, with good acquaintances from the Bundesliga," Bayern's former goalkeeper and now CEO Oliver Kahn said, describing City as an "absolute top team.
"If you want to win the Champions League, you have to beat the best. That is the challenge and we are happy to take on it."
Napoli beat Eintracht Frankfurt 5-0 on aggregate to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in the club's history while AC Milan are back in the last eight after a 12-year hiatus.
The semifinal draw was also made with all three Italian sides on one side of the draw and both English teams in the other half.
SEMI-FINAL DRAW
Semifinal 1: Milan/Napoli v Benfica/Inter
Semifinal 2: Real/Chelsea v City/Bayern
* Team drawn first hosts the first leg
* First legs: May 9-10
* Second legs: May 16-17
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis and Ken Ferris)
