Champions League draw: Liverpool take on Real Madrid plus a repeat of the 2020 final

Jurgen Klopp's side face a tough task to reach the semi-final stage as they battle the record winners of the tournament

12:22pm on Friday 19th March 2021
By Team FC

Real Madrid will face Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, while Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have been pitted together in a repeat of the 2020 final.

Manchester City, meanwhile, were first out of the hat, with Pep Guardiola’s side given the intriguing task of tackling Borussia Dortmund over two legs.

Finally, Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea team will face Porto for a place in the last four.

Once the draw for the quarter-finals was concluded, the semi-finals were also picked. The winner of Bayern’s clash with PSG will face off against City or Dortmund, while Real Madrid or Liverpool will play Porto or Chelea.

While all four quarter-final ties are mouth-watering, the prospect of two of Europe’s most historic teams going toe-to-toe over two legs captures the headlines.

Between Real Madrid and Liverpool, there is a total of 19 European titles, 13 claimed by the Spanish side and six by Liverpool.

Of course, their most recent meeting was in the 2018 final, in which Loris Karius made two catastrophic errors and Gareth Bale scored a memorable overhead as the Spaniards claimed a 3-1 victory.

Liverpool, who have been struggling in the Premier League and may need to win the competition to stand a chance of returning next season, will be out for revenge.

Champions League Quarter-Final draw

CL draw

Team 1	Team 2
Man City	Dortmund
Porto	Chelsea
Bayern	PSG
Real Madrid	Liverpool

And the Reds have been handed a favourable draw as they seek to progress to the final.

Madrid, too, are having difficulties this season and have been forced to scramble even to reach this stage.

Meanwhile, in the semi-finals, neither Porto nor Chelsea has been considered one of the favourites for the title, despite the Blues’ improved form under Tuchel.

The top half of the draw looks far more stacked, with the three favourites Bayern Munich, PSG and Manchester City all set to face off.

Certainly, Pep Guardiola’s Premier League leaders will start as hot favourites to dispatch Dortmund, despite the obvious threat carried by Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho, a former City young player.

Meanwhile, Bayern and PSG square off for the first time since Kingsley Coman’s headed goal gave FCB their sixth European crown in Lisbon last August.