NYON, Switzerland — Pep Guardiola avoided his future employers as Manchester City was Friday drawn to play Real Madrid in the semifinals of the Champions League while Atletico Madrid will face Bayern Munich.
Guardiola will take over as City boss next season and is in his swansong after three years at Bayern having steered the Bavarian giant to the last four in Europe on each of his three years in charge.
Atletico, the Diego Simeone-coached team that knocked out defending champion Barcelona in the quarterfinals, and Bayern have previously met once in European action, in the 1974 final, the Bundesliga side running out 4-0 winner in the replay following an initial 1-1 draw.
Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski said the Bundesliga team would be wary of Atletico.
“@Atleti did show the strength in the match with Barcelona. We must maintain maximum concentration,” the Polish international tweeted.
For outgoing Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini, the semifinal will be a return to the club he managed in 2009-10.
The first leg of the semifinals will be played on April 26-27, with the second leg scheduled for May 3-4. The final will take place at Milan’s San Siro stadium on May 28.
Liverpool-Villarreal,
Sevilla-Shakhtar in Europa
Liverpool will play Villarreal in the Europa League semifinals and two-time defending champion Sevilla will face Shakhtar Donetsk.
Liverpool and Sevilla play away in the first legs on April 28. The return matches will be on May 5.
The final will be played on May 18 in Basel.
Liverpool, Sevilla all smiles
What the Europa League lacks in glamor it more than made up for in late drama Thursday. Sevilla’s pursuit of a hat trick of titles was kept alive with a shootout success and Liverpool reached the semifinals through a stoppage-time winner.
Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal joined Liverpool in scoring four goals in their quarterfinal second-leg wins, but the English Premier League club needed every one of them to complete an exhilarating 4-3 comeback against Borussia Dortmund.
“I can’t explain,” Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel said. “It was not logical.”
Liverpool was facing elimination on away goals until Dejan Lovren’s header earned a 5-4 aggregate win on an epic Anfield night to give manager Juergen Klopp a victory to savor against his former club.
Not only can Klopp’s first season in charge of Liverpool still end in silverware, but lifting the cup would secure Champions League qualification. Sevilla is also relying on winning the Europa League to return to the continent’s elite competition, unlike Shakhtar Donetsk and Villarreal, who are better placed to qualify through their domestic league positions.
Shakhtar Donetsk reached a European semifinal for only the second time by crushing Sporting Braga 4-0 to advance 6-1 on aggregate. Villarreal was in Friday’s draw after winning at Sparta Prague 4-2 to go through 6-3 on aggregate.
The tables were turned on Sevilla after winning 2-1 at Athletic Bilbao last week, with its Spanish rival winning the return leg 2-1 to force the game into extra time and a shootout. Sevilla scored all five penalties to win 5-4. — Agencies
