Manchester City have been drawn against Chelsea in a Champions League quarter-final simulator, while Inter Milan will go up against Serie A leaders Napoli.
The draw for the quarter-final of Europe's premier competition will take place on Friday, March 17 at 11am GMT at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland.
It will be followed by a draw for the two semi-finals, and another to determine which side of the draw will produce the 'home team' for the final, which will take place in Istanbul.
Moreover, from the quarter-final stage onwards, teams from the same country will be able to meet, while sides that played one another in the group stage can also be drawn together.
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With all that in mind, we decided to run the draw through a simulator - and it cooked up some mouthwatering ties.
Chelsea vs Manchester City
City and Chelsea are the Premier League’s two representatives in the Champions League quarter-final, and our simulator has them playing one another.
City made it through to the quarter-final of the competition after an emphatic 7-0 victory over RB Leipzig in the second leg of their last-16 clash.
Indeed, Erling Haaland struck five times to equal Lionel Messi’s record for the most goals scored in a single Champions League game and see City claim an 8-1 aggregate win over the Bundesliga side.
Meanwhile, Chelsea overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit against Borussia Dortmund with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge, to relieve the pressure on Graham Potter.
Given these two teams’ positions in the Premier League, with City in second and Chelsea languishing in tenth, it would be a favourable draw for Pep Guardiola’s side, who many bookmakers have as the favourites to win the competition.
Inter Milan vs Napoli
It’s the first time three Italian clubs have reached the last eight of the tournament since 2006, and our simulator has two of them drawn against one another.
Inter Milan beat Porto 1-0 on aggregate to qualify for the Champions League quarter-final for the first time since 2011.
And our accumulator has them drawn against Serie A leaders Napoli. Luciano Spalletti’s side cruised into the quarter-finals of the competition with a comfortable 5-0 aggregate win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
Real Madrid vs Bayern Munich
Real Madrid, the competition’s reigning champions, knocked out Liverpool for the third season in a row to make the Champions League quarter-final.
Los Blancos dispatched Jurgen Klopp’s side 6-2 on aggregate and will be many people’s favourites to win the entire tournament, despite their middling La Liga form.
The simulator has drawn them against Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, who beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 on aggregate in the last-16.
Benfica vs AC Milan
AC Milan beat a tepid Tottenham Hotspur over two legs, and our simulator has rewarded them with a two-legged tie against Benfica.
The Portuguese giants destroyed Club Brugge 7-1 on aggregate to make it to the last eight of the tournament.
Topics: Football, Champions League, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, Benfica, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Napoli
Chris Byfield