Hello and welcome to the Europa Conference League quarter-final draw live blog. The headlines:
• Arsenalvs Bayern Munich (Champions League)
• Manchester City vs Real Madrid (Champions League)
• Atletico vs Dortmund, PSG vs Barcelona (Champions League)
• Liverpool vs Atalanta (Europa League)
• Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham (Europa League)
• Aston Villa vs Lille (Conference League)
The UCL quarter-finals will be:
• First legs: April 9 and 10
• Second legs: April 16 and 17
The UEL and UECL quarter-finals will be:
• First legs: April 11
• Second legs: April 18
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Here’s the complete list of Champions League quarter-finalists.
🏴 Arsenal
🇪🇸 Barcelona
🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain
🇪🇸 Atletico Madrid
🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund
🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
🏴 Manchester City
🇪🇸 Real Madrid
Should Spurs fans be hoping Arsenal do well in this competition?
By the way – not just the quarter-finals that get drawn today. The semis will be drawn, too.
This is the first time in 14 years that Arsenal have reached a quarter-final of the Champions League. Back then, the Gunners were knocked out by four Lionel Messi goals.
Mikel Arteta was still an Everton player at the time, Bukayo Saka was eight years old and Messi himself had only been awarded one of his eight Ballons d’Or. Oof.
The draw will be live, of course, on TNT Sports today from 11am.
Here's how to watch TNT (Image credit: Getty Images)
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The leading scorers of this season’s Champions League will come as a shock to just about absolutely no one.
Harry Kane has scored six in the Champions League this season (Image credit: Getty Images)
Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe all lead the charts with six goals a-piece. In other news, bears do their business in the woods.
The semi-finals are going to be drawn today alongside the quarter-finals today, and obviously you don’t need to do a draw for the final. That would be stupid.
With changes afoot both in the competition format and in how UEFA do their draws, make sure you savour this festival of pungent self-congratulation as we know it for the last time.
The group stage is being totally overhauled into one big league of 36 teams, with each side playing eight different opponents.
With so many different permutations to consider, UEFA are therefore going to switch to at least a partly-computerised automated draw, rather than keep us all hanging on for four tedious hours while they work through 900 (yes, 900) different balls.
The knockout stages will then be seeded so the top four sides in the big league table stage can’t play each other until at least the semi-finals.
And to think, old Guinevere is just sitting in London’s Science Museum, going to waste. Shame.
It wouldn’t really be the Champions League without Real Madrid in the draw.
Jude Bellingham is gunning for the UCL (Image credit: Getty Images)
The record 14-time champions of Europe have won twice as many European Cups/Champions Leagues as the next-best performing team in the competition’s long history, including winning the first five in a row from 1956 to 1960.
The La Liga leaders have reached at least the semi-finals of the Champions League in 11 of the past 13 seasons, winning it five times.
Real have won all of the past eight finals they have reached; as such, they have not been runners-up since Alan Kennedy’s late strike earned Liverpool a late victory in Paris in 1981.
Arsenal aren’t the only ones playing a rare quarter-final. PSG are through to the last eight for just the third time since 2016. Both other times they got that far, the Parc Des Princes was empty, due to COVID-19. It’s only taken them a few billion to get this far.
Five minutes till the draw!
With just two English clubs left in the Champions League and country protection removed from the quarters onward, it’s a real possibility that Arsenal will meet Manchester City in this draw.
Back in 1978/79, we saw the first-ever all-English clash when Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forst knocked out Bob Paisley’s Liverpool – but it’s been a regular occurrence since UEFA have opened the Champions League up to, err, non-champions. Arsenal’s Invincibles were knocked out by Chelsea in 2004, Mourinho’s Chelsea by Liverpool in 2005, and Liverpool faced Chelsea again in 2005/06, for two thrilling 0-0 matches in the group stage (thanks, guys).
In the late 2000s, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United all facing each other became more common (remember the big four?) before the late 2010s saw more all-Prem clashes for the ages – mostly at Manchester City’s expense. Liverpool knocked out Pep Guardiola’s men in 2018, Tottenham eliminated them in 2019 (before losing the final to Liverpool), while Chelsea beat City in the 2021 final.
How much do you know about the Champions League?
Porto with the Champions League (Image credit: Getty Images)
It’s time to welcome Pedro Pinto. The Portuguese-American journalist is Chief of Press at UEFA and back once again for the draws – though it remains to be seen if we’ll see him next at the group stage next season: UEFA are automating the draws for the league stage. Boo.
One supercomputer reckons Arsenal and Manchester City have amazing chances this year.
🏴 Arsenal
🇪🇸 Barcelona
🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain
🇪🇸 Atletico Madrid
🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund
🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
🏴 Manchester City
🇪🇸 Real Madrid
Pinto is joined by Deputy General Secretary of UEFA, Giorgio Marchetti. Giorgio was previously Director of Competitions at UEFA, responsible for all youth and professional club and national competitions in the past.
Marchetti explains that this will be the last draw of its kind before the tournament revamp last year, welcoming on stage, Manchester United Chelsea legend, John Obi Mikel!
We're about to begin. Vamos!
🏴 Arsenal first out
🏴 Arsenal vs 🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
Kane returns to North London
🇪🇸 Atletico Madrid vs 🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund
🇪🇸 Real Madrid vs 🏴 Manchester City
🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain vs 🇪🇸 Barcelona
The draw in full:
🏴 Arsenal vs 🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
🇪🇸 Atletico Madrid vs 🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund
🇪🇸 Real Madrid vs 🏴 Manchester City
🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain vs 🇪🇸 Barcelona
Now for the semis…
Semi-final 1:
🇪🇸 Atletico Madrid or 🇩🇪 Borussia Dortmund
vs
🇫🇷 Paris Saint-Germain vs 🇪🇸 Barcelona
ARSENAL CAN PLAY CITY IN THE SEMI!
Semi-final 2:
🏴 Arsenal or 🇩🇪 Bayern Munich
vs
🇪🇸 Real Madrid or 🏴 Manchester City
Oh, man. What a draw.
Winners of Semi-final 1 will be the 'home side' of the final.
That means that one of Dortmund, Atletico, PSG or Barcelona will be home team, getting the choice to wear their home kit against one of Arsenal, Bayern, Man City or Real Madrid.
That's an incredible draw. All four favourites on one side of the draw, too.
This will be a seventh consecutive quarter-final appearance for reigning Champions League holders Manchester City, who also reached the semi-finals in 2015/16 (before that consistent run on the latter stages began in earnest).
Here’s how they’ve fared in each of those campaigns:
2017/18: Lost in quarters to Liverpool (1-5 on aggregate)
2018/19: Lost in quarters to Tottenham (4-4 - Spurs won on away goals)
2019/20: Lost in quarters to Lyon (1-3 in a one-legged quarter-final due to covid)
2020/21: Lost in final to Chelsea (0-1)
2021/22: Lost in semi-finals to Real Madrid (5-6 on aggregate after extra time)
2022/23: WINNERS: Beat Inter in the final (1-0)
Reminder that the Europa League draw is next up, with Liverpool and West Ham in the hat (or bowl)
Kylian Mbappe will be playing his final Champions League campaign for Paris Saint-Germain – a club who have been absolutely desperate to claim the one crowning glory that has eluded them over the past few seasons – and they have a huge chance, now.
Kylian Mbappe has a golden chance at another UCL final (Image credit: Getty Images)
The French superstar is, of course, bound for Real Madrid. Yeah, they’re a bit better at winning it. Good shout, Kylian.
He’s 12th on the list of all-time top-scorers in the competition, by the way, with 46 strikes in 69 appearances. Nice. Four more and he’ll equal his hero Thierry Henry in eighth place – though he has a long way to go to match 140-goal record-holder Cristiano Ronaldo.
Despite his exploits and the millions PSG have spent, reaching this stage has been more of a rarity than they would like. They have crashed out in the round of 16 five times in the past seven seasons.
The two exceptions were the weird one-legged mid-covid knockout stages of 2019/20, when they finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich; and the largely behind–closed-doors edition the following season, when they lost of Manchester City in the semis.
Let's pivot to the Europa draw, now.
Here’s the complete list of Europa League quarter-finalists.
🏴 Liverpool
🇫🇷 Marseille
🇮🇹 Roma
🇵🇹 Benfica
🏴 West Ham United
🇮🇹 Atalanta
🇮🇹 Milan
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen
The Europa League draw will get underway at midday UK time, and like the Champions League (and plain white bread), this stage of the competition will be completely unseeded.
That means any combination of the 16 teams can play one another, including sides from the same country…not that there’s many combinations that apply now.
Liverpool all but booked their place in their quarter-finals by winning 1-5 away to Sparta Prague in the first leg before emphatically finishing the job last night.
This is the Reds’ first appearance in the Europa League since they finished as runners-up to Sevilla in Jurgen Klopp’s first season at the club, back in 2015/16.
If Liverpool were to reach the final in Dublin on 22nd May, it could be well end up being Klopp’s final game in charge of the club – though he would of course prefer to sign off at Wembley in the FA Cup final three days later.
The Europa League is the one and only competition that Klopp has managed Liverpool in without guiding them to victory. We suppose it depends on your club loyalties as to how nice you think it would be for him to bookend his time at the club by finally clinching it, eight years on from losing in their first final under his charge.
There’s a fair chance we will be crowning a first-time winner in this year’s edition of the Europa League: the only sides left who have previously won it are Liverpool (three times) and Bayer Leverkusen (once).
Liverpool are three-time winners of the UEFA Cup, as the Europa League was known prior to being rebadged in 2009.
Their last triumph came in dramatic fashion in 2001, when Alaves’ Delfi Geli put through his own net late on in extra time after the sides drew 4-4 in the regulation 90 minutes. It is likely to remain the only time major European club competition has ever been settled by a golden goal. (Ask your parents, kids).
That victory completed a treble of cup wins for Gerard Houllier’s side that season, alongside the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup. Might history repeat itself this year?
West Ham United are going great guns in Europe (Image credit: Getty Images)
FourFourTwo's Chris Flanagan explains more…
West Ham are becoming increasingly familiar with reaching this kind of stage of European competition, with their two-legged comeback victory over Freiburg putting David Moyes’ side into the hat today.
The Hammers reached the semi-finals of the Europa League two years ago, overcoming Sevilla and Lyon in the earlier knockout stages before losing to eventual champions Eintracht Frankfurt.
They are back in the competition despite finishing 14th in the Premier League last year thanks to having won the second-ever edition of the Europa Conference League, with Jarrod Bowen’s last-minute strike sealing a famous victory over Fiorentina in the final.
10 minutes to go!
Last year’s winners, Sevilla, are not involved this year.
The Europa League champions of course earn a Champions League place for the following season, and they finished bottom of their group, meaning they didn’t even get back in as a run-off side.
Winning it would be particularly cathartic to Marseille, who have reached the final three times since 1999 but finished runners-up each time; and Benfica, who did likewise in 1983, 2013 and 2014. Always the bridesmaid…
Here's Fernando Llorente to assist with the draw!
We're about to kick off once more…
A quick reminder: open draw, home team drawn first, then we'll draw the semis and choose who will 'home team' in the final in Dublin. Ready?
🇮🇹 Milan vs 🇮🇹 Roma
🏴 Liverpool vs 🇮🇹 Atalanta
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen vs 🏴 West Ham United
🇵🇹 Benfica vs 🇫🇷 Marseille
What a lineup.
Semi-final 1:
🇵🇹 Benfica or 🇫🇷 Marseille
vs
🏴 Liverpool or 🇮🇹 Atalanta
Semi-final 2:
🇮🇹 Milan or 🇮🇹 Roma
vs
🇩🇪 Bayer Leverkusen vs 🏴 West Ham United
Finally, it's been drawn the 'home team' in the Europa League final will be the winner of semi-final 1.
That means one of Milan, Roma, Liverpool or Atalanta will be named first, with Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, Benfica or Marseille 'away'.
That means that the two finals that people are perhaps most excited about… are still on.
Liverpool are obviously red-hot favourites and they can play either Leverkusen or West Ham in the final. It could be the Xabi Alonso derby… or an all-English clash.
An all-Italian clash to look forward to in the Europa, too.
Daniele De Rossi faces one of his trickiest tasks yet, as he takes his Roma side to Milan. In fact, all three Italian sides are on the same side of the draw, meaning at least one will be in the semi – and one will be in the final if any of them can topple Liverpool.
Let's turn our attention to the Europa Conference League, next.
Here’s the complete list of Europa Conference League quarter-finalists.
🇨🇿 Viktoria Plzen
🏴 Aston Villa
🇧🇪 Club Brugge
🇹🇷 Fenerbahce
🇬🇷 PAOK
🇫🇷 Lille
🇮🇹 Fiorentina
🇬🇷 Olympiacos
This is just the third edition of the Conference League following its introduction to the UEFA calendar in 2021/22.
Roma were the inaugural champions, with Jose Mourinho’s side defeating Feyenoord in the final after Nicolo Zaniolo scored the only goal of the game.
Another former Manchester United boss, David Moyes, won the next edition too: his West Ham side beat Fiorentina in last year’s final.
If only Ole Gunnar Solskjaer were back at Molde. We could have gone three for three.
This is the last time the UEFA Europa Conference League will be contested under this name: from next season it will be called simply the UEFA Conference League.
That’s the first time Europa has been taken away since Zeus turned himself into a bull and carried her away on his back, we think.
Aston Villa have not got this far in European competition since reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in 1997/98.
The competition was a straight knockout in those days, when we still had a glimmer in our eyes and our whole lives ahead of us, and successfully navigated past Bordeaux, Athletic Bilbao, and Steaua Bucharest before finally being vanquished by Atletico Madrid on away goals.
Ian Taylor was in particularly fine form in that campaign, scoring at Villa Park against Athletic, Steaua and Atletico.
Here’s a thing: Fred (yes, that Fred, formerly of Manchester United) has four assists for Fenerbahce in this year’s Europa CONFERENCE League.
UNITED WERE HOLDING HIM BACK. Well, that and not playing the likes of Nordsjaelland, Spartak Trnava and Ludogorets every week.
Five minutes till the draw.
OLBG's odds on the 2023/24 Europa Conference League winner
Aston Villa - 7/4
Fiorentina - 7/2
Lille - 5/1
Fenerbahce - 7/1
Club Brugge, Viktoria Plzen - 12/1
PAOK Thessaloniki - 20/1
Olympiakos - 25/1
🇧🇪 Club Brugge vs 🇬🇷 PAOK
🇬🇷 Olympiacos vs 🇹🇷 Fenerbahce
🏴 Aston Villa vs 🇫🇷 Lille
🇨🇿 Viktoria Plzen vs 🇮🇹 Fiorentina
Not the easiest draw for Villa, there.
Semi-final 1:
🏴 Aston Villa or 🇫🇷 Lille
vs
🇬🇷 Olympiacos or 🇹🇷 Fenerbahce
Semi-final 2:
🇨🇿 Viktoria Plzen or 🇮🇹 Fiorentina
vs
🇧🇪 Club Brugge or 🇬🇷 PAOK
One thing left to do…
The 'home team' in the final will be from semi-final 1.
That means that one of Villa, Lille, Olympiacos or Fenerbahce will be the 'home team' in the final, with the 'away side' being one of Club Brugge, PAOK, Viktoria Plzen or Fiorentina.
And that just about wraps everything up – thanks for joining us!
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