21st March, 2014
Manchester United of England will face a herculean task of scaling the hurdles of champions, Bayern Munich of Germany in the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League.
In the draw conducted in Nyon, Switzerland Friday afternoon, David Moyes’ Man. United were paired with the defending champions, Bayern.
In other pairings, Paris Saint-Germain, PSG, will take on Chelsea in what appears as a little bit of a clash of egos between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho. An all-Spanish encounter will see FC Barcelona go to war against Club Atlético de Madrid, while the other La Liga representatives, Real Madrid, will face Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund, who were finalists last season.
There is no doubt that Man. United will face a tough battle going past the champions. Moyes’ men have met Bayern nine times in total, all in the UEFA Champions League. The English champions have won only one of their four home games against their German counterparts, however, and even that was not enough, a 3-2 victory in the 2009/10 quarter-finals leading to defeat on away goals.
Chelsea FC are unbeaten in their two previous meetings with PSG, both in the 2004/05 group stage, Mourinho’s first season at Stamford Bridge. The London club won 3-0 in Paris before a 0-0 home draw.
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund met in last season’s Champions League semi-finals, with the Bundesliga side prevailing 4-3 on aggregate. Barcelona and Club Atlético de Madrid have never before met in a European competition. Just one point currently separates Barcelona and Club Atlético de Madrid in the Spanish Liga and their three meetings this season – two in the Spanish Super Cup and one in the league – have failed to produce a winner.
These ties will be played on 1 and 2 April and 8 and 9 April. The sides drawn first will be at home in the first leg.
The ambassador for this year’s final in Lisbon, Luis Figo, was on hand to conduct the draw. He won the title with Real Madrid in 2002.