MADRID, 17 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal will know their definitive path this Friday to try to play the final in Paris of the 2021-2022 Champions League, with the draw for the quarterfinals and the semifinals starting at 12.00 and where the Portuguese Benfica is surely the ‘desired’ by the rest of the hype along with the Castellón team.
There are only eight final candidates left to opt for the title of continental champion, six of them divided between LaLiga Santander and the powerful English Premier League, which has also placed its three best values: Chelsea, current champion, Manchester City, current runner-up, and Liverpool. Another favorite such as the German Bayern Munich, winner in 2020, and the Lisbon ‘Eagles’ complete the list of candidates.
As usual, UEFA will already take advantage of the occasion to proceed to future semi-final pairings so everyone will know the final path that will lead them to the Stade de France to play the final on May 28. First, they will have to overcome the quarterfinals scheduled for April 5 and 6 in their first legs and for the following week (12 and 13) in the second legs, while the semifinals will be on April 26 and 27 and April 3 and May 4th.
Of the final candidates, all have won a continental title and there are still five European champions left, Real Madrid (13), Liverpool (6), Bayern (6), Benfica (2) and Chelsea (1), and two runners-up, Atlético and City, while Villarreal, a semi-finalist in 2006, is the newest in these competitions, although its condition as winner of the Europa League and having left out Juventus almost completely give up the role of ‘favorite’ rival for the rest to the Portuguese team.
POSSIBLE MADRID DERBY
This, which is in the penultimate round ten years after its last presence, is emerging as the theoretically most affordable, especially for the Spanish teams, despite having left FC Barcelona out of the group stage, while in the round of 16 it eliminated to the thriving Ajax.
From there, the options to choose from are few for Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid and Villarreal, who could be drawn against each other and secure at least one semi-finalist in the Champions League. Madridistas and rojiblancos could face each other again after the two finals in 2014 and 2016, the quarterfinals in 2015 and the semifinals in 2017, all of which were won by the 13-time continental champion.
As for the rivals of the Premier, they are all of a high level, although the feeling given how the season is going is that both Manchester City and Liverpool are much more ‘fearful’, although the ‘reds’ were eliminated by Real Madrid in the quarterfinals last year and by Atlético in the second round in the previous one. Those of Pep Guardiola eliminated the current leader of LaLiga Santander in the second round of the 2019-2020.
Chelsea, for its part, although it seems less brilliant, maintains its strength from last season, but it remains to be seen how what is happening at an institutional level can affect it sportingly after the sanction of the United Kingdom to a Roman Abramovich who has put for sale the club.
Finally, there would be another powerful team and great candidate like the German Bayern Munich, led by the goals of Robert Lewandowski and their traditional attacking football reinforced by the arrival of the young Julian Nagelsmann. However, in a two-leg tie, the Bavarian team have been quite bad at Spanish teams in recent years.