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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS