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LONDON (AP):
Two English clubs stand in the way of a stellar Champions League (CL) semi-final between Real Madrid with Kylian Mbappé and his long-time previous team Paris Saint-Germain.
Mbappé and Madrid are at Arsenal tomorrow for the first leg of their quarter-final. The return game is on April 16.
PSG, fresh from winning the French league title with an unbeaten record for coach Luis Enrique, host Aston Villa on Wednesday.
The new CL format, with a tennis-style seeded knockout bracket set through to the final, put those four teams in the same half of the draw.
Madrid already won six of the past 11 CL titles even before adding Mbappé for this season when his contract in Paris expired.
PSG have never been European champion — and reached just one final in seven seasons with Mbappé — yet looked the most impressive team in the round of 16, eliminating Liverpool, the likely champions of England.
The bottom half of the draw has three domestic league leaders and one team struggling in eighth place in its standings.
Bayern Munich host Inter Milan tomorrow in the stadium that stages the final on May 31.
Barcelona start heavily favoured on Wednesday at home to Borussia Dortmund, who might need to win this CL just to get an entry into the next one.
MADRID’S QUEST
Real Madrid face a path towards a record-extending 16th CL title just as difficult as the epic run of comeback wins in 2022: Mbappé’s PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in the final.
This time, after eliminating Man City and Atletico Madrid, coach Carlo Ancelotti must next outsmart Arsenal and Mikel Arteta, who are left with one realistic chance of a trophy.
Mbappé and defender Antonio Rüdiger — who scored the decisive penalty in a shootout to beat Atletico — were cleared on Friday by UEFA to play in London. Their one-game bans for excessive celebrations were deferred to one-year probationary periods.
IN-FORM TEAMS
PSG welcome an Aston Villa club layered with personal history in Paris for a game between two of Europe’s hottest teams.
PSG’s record since placing 15th in the league phase in January — the lowest of any of the quarter-finalists — is 16 wins in 17 games across all competitions. The blip was an unlucky 1-0 loss to Liverpool at Parc des Princes in the round-of-16 first leg, having been clearly the better team.
Villa have won seven straight for coach Unai Emery coming into their first game at this stage of the competition for 42 years.
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