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Football: The European Semi-Finals Draws

 

The Semi-Final draws have been made for both the Champions League and the Europa Cup at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.

The Champions League draw sees Barcelona drawn against German giants Bayern Munich, and Juventus taking on reigning champions Real Madrid.

Naturally the big talking point will be the current Bayern boss Pep Guardiola taking his team back to Barcelona – the club he won 14 trophies as a manager at in just 4 years - including the Champions League in 2009 and 2011.

The other tie also sees a manager returning to his former club as Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti returns to Juventus, with the Italian having managed the Turin side from 1999 to 2001.

This is the first time since 2003 that ‘The Old Lady of Italian football’ have been in the semi-final of the top club competition in the world. Bayern won their fifth trophy in 2013, and Barcelona’s fourth was secured in 2011.

The neutrals would say that everything is set up for an ‘El Classico’ final, but amazingly the two giants of Spanish football have never met in a European final.

It also must be noted that both Barca’s Lionel Messi and Real’s Christiano Ronaldo are both tied at the top of the Champions League all time top scorers list with 75 a piece.

The first legs of the semis will be played on 5th and 6th May, with the return matches a week later, and this season's final will be played at Berlin's Olympic Stadium on Saturday, 6th June.

 

The Europa League draw leaves the possibility of an all-Serie A final as Napoli have been drawn against Dnipro, and the holders and 3 time winners Sevilla will play Fiorentina.

There have been four all-Italian UEFA Cup finals, but none since the tournament was rebranded in 2009.

Dinipro are the surprise package of the semi-finals having come through a play-off qualifier, a group that included Inter Milan, and knockout stages against Olympiacos, Ajax, and Brugge.

The first legs of the semi-finals will be played on Thursday, 7th May with the return matches a week later.

The final is in Warsaw's National Stadium in Poland on Wednesday, 27th May.