Champions League draw: Real Madrid get Man City; Barça get PSG

Manchester City were drawn against Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Champions League on Friday in a tie that sees the most recent winners of Europe’s premier competition take on its most successful side.

Kylian Mbappé and his Paris Saint-Germain team will take on Barcelona in what is expected to be his final season with the French club, with sources telling ESPN he is expected to join Barça’s rivals Madrid this summer.

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Elsewhere, Harry Kane will face a familiar foe as Bayern Munich were drawn against Arsenal. It is also a familiar matchup, with Bayern having knocked the north London club out of this competition in 2013, 2014 and 2017.

Bayern fans will not be permitted at the Emirates after UEFA punished the German club’s supporters for throwing fireworks onto the pitch during their round-of-16 first leg against Lazio in Rome.

The other tie is Atlético Madrid against Borussia Dortmund.

In the semifinals, the winner of Atlético against Dortmund will play Barça or PSG, meaning two of Arsenal, Bayern, Madrid and City will compete for a spot in the final.

Barça’s contest against PSG will evoke memories of several recent ties, with the two teams having met in the knockout stages three times since the 2014-15 season.

Most famously, the Catalan club overcame a 4-0 first-leg deficit in the 2016-17 round of 16 with a 6-1 win at the Spotify Camp Nou in a fixture christened by Spanish media as La Remontada — the comeback of all comebacks.

“Any team that fell to us would be a tough match,” Barcelona winger Raphinha told ESPN Brasil. “PSG will be difficult. Playing against them in Paris is tricky. But we know what we can do to come away with the win.”

Madrid and City also have very recent history in the Champions League having met in the semifinals of the past two seasons. Madrid will host the first leg on April 9 or 10 and the return will be the week after in Manchester.

Pep Guardiola’s team beat Madrid en route to their maiden title last year behind a crushing 4-0 win at the Etihad, while in 2021-22, Madrid staged a typically resilient fightback to steal the tie and progress.

Madrid director Emilio Butragueño said after Friday’s draw: “They are the champions, we know each other perfectly, I don’t have to explain all the virtues that City has.

“There are going to be two magnificent games for the public. There are top-level players and two tremendous games await us. We are excited that the team will be up to the task, we have to get a good result at the Bernabeu to defend it there.

“All the teams that have arrived to this point are strong. In the end it’s two games. The games have been levelled and any details can decide the tie. The eight teams remaining can be champions, let’s see what happens. All the ties are attractive. We’ve got City. We have to accept it. They have a very powerful team and we also have a very good team too.”

Guardiola said in his Friday news conference that the contests against Madrid are becoming customary.

“It’s a little bit of tradition, three years in a row we’re playing the king of the competition because they have won 14 Champions Leagues, but it is what it is,” he said.

The first legs of the quarterfinals will take place on April 9 and 10, with the return games a week later on April 16 and 17.

This year’s Champions League final is being held at Wembley in London on June 1. It will be the eighth time England’s national stadium has hosted UEFA’s showpiece club fixture.