Real Madrid, Juventus, Manchester United and Liverpool were handed favorable draws in the third and final qualifying round of the Champions League on Friday, avoiding Benfica and Basel.
Nine-time winner Real, eliminated in the quarterfinals last season, will likely play Poland's Wisla Krakow, which has an 8-2 first-leg lead over Georgia Tbilisi in second-round qualifying.
"Wisla are a strong team because we have bought Poland's best players, but Real Madrid are stronger because they have bought the world's best players," Wisla 'keeper Radoslaw Majdan said. "But in every game, even against Real Madrid, we play to win."
Juventus, the 1996 champion and finalist four times in the last eight years, faces Sweden's Djurgarden or Lithuania's Kaunas.
"They are both very strong from the physical point of view, and we cannot afford to underestimate them," Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi said. "This game is too important for us."
Manchester United, which won in 1999 and has appeared in the quarterfinals seven of the last eight seasons, takes on either Slovakia's MSK Zilina or Romania's Dinamo Bucharest. Bucharest has a 1-0 lead against Zilina heading into the second leg.
"United are one of the most successful teams of the last few years and one of the top three teams in Europe," Dinamo coach Ioan Andone said. "What can I say after such a draw? Only that we shall do our best."
Four-time winner Liverpool plays Austrian champion Grazer AK. All four big clubs, who were seeded, faced qualifying after not finishing in the top two in their respective domestic leagues.
Inter Milan, a two-time winner in the '60s, meets Swiss champion Basel, considered a dangerous floater.
"They won the Swiss league and are more prepared than us from the physical point of view as their league has already started," Inter president Giacinto Facchetti said. "They are surely one of the most difficult opponents we could have faced."
Portugal's Benfica, also a two-time winner in the 1960s, plays Belgian champion Anderlecht in another intriguing tie. Benfica recently hired Italy's former national coach, Giovanni Trapattoni.
"Benfica have reinforced ahead of the new season as our goal to stay in the competition as long as possible," Benfica managing director Jose Veiga said.
First-leg matches will be played Aug. 10-11, and second legs are on Aug. 24-25. The second leg of second-round qualifying is this Wednesday.
Sixteen teams will enter the main draw, with defending champion FC Porto, 2003 winner AC Milan, English champion Arsenal, Spanish champion Valencia and Germany's Bayern Munich among clubs automatically in. The third-round losers play in the UEFA Cup.
In other pairings, last year's finalist, Monaco, is matched up with either Slovenia's Gorica or Denmark's FC Copenhagen.
Spain's Deportivo La Coruna, a semifinalist in 2003-2004, will play either Croatia's Hadjuk Split or Ireland's Shelbourne.
Bayer Leverkeusen, 2002 finalist, plays Czech side Banik Ostrava, which features Czech striker Marik Heinze. Heinze starred at this year's European Championship.
Dynamo Kiev, 1999 semifinalist, and Norwegians Rosenborg, in the competition nine of the last 10 years, also feature.
Group matches begin in mid-September, and the final is May 25 in Istanbul.
Steaua Bucharest, which won the European Cup in 1986, and Partizan Belgrade, in the Champions League last year, were among 64 teams drawn in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
Steaua plays Serbia-Montenegro's Zeleznik, and Partizan meets Romania's Otelul Galati. The first legs are on Aug. 12, and the second legs are Aug. 26.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to