Chelsea to face Real Madrid in Champions League quarter-finals

Chelsea will face defending champions Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals, the second year in succession that the two clubs have squared off at this stage of the competition.

Last season, the Blues were eliminated by Los Blancos by a 5-4 aggregate scoreline, the Premier League giants almost pulling off a stunning turnaround in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

On this occasion, Real will host the first leg of the last-eight tie, with the reverse fixture being staged at Stamford Bridge a week later.

This will represent the third consecutive year that the European giants have met in the Champions League with Chelsea having prevailed in the semi-finals en route to their 2021 triumph.

Meanwhile, Manchester City's reward for thrashing RB Leipzig in the last 16 is a showdown with Pep Guardiola's former club Bayern Munich, the first leg taking place at the Etihad Stadium.

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The winners of those respective ties - containing four of the five favourites for the competition - will then meet in the semi-finals.

Napoli, the current runaway leaders in Serie A, will square off against last season's champions AC Milan in an all-Italian tie with the first leg being staged at San Siro.

In the other tie of the quarter-finals, Inter Milan will meet Benfica, the opening contest taking place in Portugal courtesy of AC Milan being drawn at home later in the draw.

The first legs will take place on April 11/12, with the second fixtures being staged on April 18/19.

Quarter-final draw:

Real Madrid vs. Chelsea Benfica vs. Inter Milan Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich AC Milan vs. Napoli

Semi-final draw:

AC Milan/Napoli vs. Benfica/Inter Milan Real Madrid/Chelsea vs. Manchester City/Bayern Munich