Champions League draw LIVE: Man City and Chelsea discover quarter-final fate

Different manner, same result, and enough to at least leave Jurgen Klopp wondering what is going on here. Real Madrid have ended Liverpool’s chances of winning the Champions League for the third successive season. On this occasion, though, the wonder wasn’t how you beat them but how you even score against them. Liverpool couldn’t get anywhere close to a comeback because they so struggled to get forward, leaving Karim Benzema to pick them off for a 1-0 that made it 6-2 on aggregate.

A large part of that was admittedly down to an injury crisis in midfield, which made it a bad – or perhaps inevitable – night for Madrid to show how imperious they are in that area. Far from this being a team that could be ageing, in transition or just vulnerable, the European champions look a more complete team than last season. A lot of that might have to do with the fact they can call themselves European champions. It is as if it has given young stars like Vinicius Junior and Eduardo Camavinga the conviction to go to another level, while Luka Modric and Benzema stay at the standard of last season.

That makes them an immensely formidable side, and one that can’t quite be considered upstart revelations in all those twists of history en route to Paris. They might even be the best left in the competition, if that doesn’t sound odd for a team that hold the trophy.

The 2022/23 Champions League final will take place on 10th June 2023 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium which was the venue for Liverpool’s famous comeback victory over AC Milan in the 2005 showpiece.

Yes. For the semi-final draw, four balls containing slips of paper marked ‘Winners of quarter-final 1’ to ‘Winners of quarter-final 4’ are placed in a large central bowl and shuffled.

The first and second balls drawn determine the first semi-final pairing, the first ball drawn representing the home team for the first leg. The procedure is repeated with the remaining balls in the bowl to complete the semi-final pairings.

There will then be a third draw to determine the ‘home’ side in the final for administrative reasons.

Eight balls containing the names of the quarter-finalists are placed in a large central bowl and shuffled. The first team drawn plays its first match at home, against the second team drawn.

The procedure is repeated with the remaining balls in the bowl to complete the quarter-final pairings.

It is an open draw. There are no seedings and no country protection, so clubs can face opposition from the same national association and teams they previously came up against in the group stage.

Chelsea boss Graham Potter warned that his side are finally finding their form after a 3-1 win at Leicester.

Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz and Mateo Kovacic scored to clinch a third straight win and breathe fresh life into a season which looked in terminal decline just a week ago.

Patson Daka did level for Leicester but they slipped to sit just a point above the relegation zone and had Wout Faes sent off late on.

It was just the second time Chelsea had netted three in the Premier League this season as they followed up wins over Leeds and Borussia Dortmund in clinical style.

Some records last forever. Some last a mere 94 years. Since Tommy Johnson scored 38 times in 1928-29, no one in a Manchester City shirt had matched him. Until, with up to 19 games and perhaps almost three months of his season remaining, Erling Haaland surged past him in an extraordinary display of goalscoring. The Champions League is supposed to be the hardest competition in the sport but Haaland had five goals inside an hour of a knockout tie against the club who were semi-finalists two seasons ago.

Records are tumbling, and not merely City’s club best that was set before the Wall Street Crash and which lasted for half a century after Johnson’s death. The most by a City player in a Champions League campaign was Riyad Mahrez’s seven last year. Haaland cruised past that to become the top scorer in this season’s competition. He became the quickest player to 30 Champions League goals in just 25 games and now has a total of 33 goals.

After four hat-tricks already in his brief City career, he scored his fifth on Tuesday night. Only Luiz Adriano and Lionel Messi had previously done that in a Champions League game and, had Pep Guardiola not removed him for the final half-hour, the competition’s maiden double hat-trick seemed on the cards.

As Karim Benzema turned in the sort of finish he always does, even the Champions League ran out of great twists. Liverpool inevitably went out to Real Madrid for the third consecutive season, and it was all feeling a bit repetitive. Manchester City again destroyed German opposition in the last 16. Bayern Munich and Chelsea again prevailed.

It isn’t completely like that across the competition, since Napoli have been the season’s revelations. Their explosion has come as part of a wider resurgence for Serie A, with the two Milan clubs ensuring the league has three quarter-finalists for the first time since 2005-06. It also makes Italy, somewhat surprisingly, the best-represented country in the last eight.

This has widely and rightly been hailed as a welcome development and a strong Serie A is obviously good for football, but it’s also worth reflecting on what is happening here.

Graham Potter has built on the foundations of Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea. Typically playing with a robust back three and the double pairing in front with wingbacks providing attacking threat and defensive stability.

Recently Chelsea have added fluidity and interchangeability of positions making them hard to work out and given the quality in the squad, the Blues are a dangerous prospect.

The question remains whether they can get their attacking talent to score goals, especially with so many new signings in January.

Graham Potter has had a difficult times of things since taking over as head coach of Chelsea. The Blues have spent heavily in two transfer markets and left Potter with a massive squad to choose from and train.

They’ve massively underperformed in the Premier League but have contrastingly played their best football in the Champions League.

Twice Chelsea have sacked their manager in the middle of the season and have gone on to win Europe’s top competition, could history repeat itself a third time?

The Blues’ second-leg comeback against Borussia Dortmund signalled a turnaround in form and their resolve on the European stage is unmatched. No team can better their record of overturning five first-leg deficits in this competition.

A goalscorer turned up and Chelsea finally got goals. They were the side who struggled to score, the assortment of wingers and midfielders and No 10s who could not find the finishing touch. And when a striker appeared – and a World Cup Golden Boot winner, no less – than they started finding the net again, in rare quantity and with considerable quality.

Admittedly, Gary Lineker is a 62-year-old Leicester fan who suddenly found himself free on a Saturday, rather than Todd Boehly’s latest signing. But after two goals in Chelsea’s previous six league games, they scored three in a match for the first time since October.

In all competitions they have six in the best week of Graham Potter’s troubled time in charge and three straight wins. Finally, talk of progress is being accompanied by evidence of it. They were free-flowing, fun and full of flair. If beating Borussia Dortmund represented Potter’s finest result at Stamford Bridge, winning at Leicester ended Chelsea’s worst run on the road for 21 years. After 10 winless trips, they had an away day to savour.