Friday, March 14, 2008

Champions Leage Quarterfinals Set

Here's the result of the Champions League quarterfinal draw held this morning:

Arsenal v Liverpool
Chel$ea v Fenerbache
Manchester United v Roma
Barcelona v Schalke 04

1st legs to be played April 1 & 2
2nd legs to be played April 8 & 9

Arsenal host Liverpool Sat April 5 in the EPL, so they will face each other three times in a week. Here's hoping that Arsenal draw the EPL version of Liverpool rather than the European Liverpool.

Manchester United fans will be thrilled at the prospect of returning to Rome, where they were treated so hospitably last year, first by Roman 'ultra' fans and then by the Roman police.

Chel$ea get to go on one of the least fun road trips there is. Witness this, this or this.

Schalke will be given no chance by anyone outside of Gelsenkirchen.

So there it is. There will be no re-draw for the semifinals; the winner of the first two quarterfinals listed above will meet in the semifinals, as will the winner of the last two, so Arsenal could theoretically win the Champions League without facing foreign opposition after the round of 16 {Liverpool in QF, Chel$ea in SF, ManUtd in final}; the same is true for The Pool. Funky, but that's what happens when 4 of the final 8 are from the same country {first time ever byt he way}.

Semifinal 1st leg April 22 & 23
Senifinal 2nd leg April 29 & 30

Final: Moscow, May 21

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