Madrid Gets Chelsea, City to Meet Bayern in Champions League

UEFA Champions League final ambassador Turkish former footballer Hamit Altintop shows the paper slip of Real Madrid CF (ESP) during the draw for the quarter-final, semi-final and final of the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League football tournament, in Nyon, on March 17, 2023. (AFP)
UEFA Champions League final ambassador Turkish former footballer Hamit Altintop shows the paper slip of Real Madrid CF (ESP) during the draw for the quarter-final, semi-final and final of the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League football tournament, in Nyon, on March 17, 2023. (AFP)
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Madrid Gets Chelsea, City to Meet Bayern in Champions League

UEFA Champions League final ambassador Turkish former footballer Hamit Altintop shows the paper slip of Real Madrid CF (ESP) during the draw for the quarter-final, semi-final and final of the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League football tournament, in Nyon, on March 17, 2023. (AFP)
UEFA Champions League final ambassador Turkish former footballer Hamit Altintop shows the paper slip of Real Madrid CF (ESP) during the draw for the quarter-final, semi-final and final of the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League football tournament, in Nyon, on March 17, 2023. (AFP)

Real Madrid’s path to another Champions League title will have to go through Chelsea in the quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Friday's draw takes Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti back to face his former club, which was eliminated by a goal from Karim Benzema in extra time a year ago.

This time, the first leg between the past two Champions League winners will be in Madrid instead of London — on April 11 or 12.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola also has a reunion with a former club. The English champions were drawn to face Bayern Munich, which has won all eight of its game in the competition this season and will play the first leg away from home.

The winner between City and Bayern will go on to play Madrid or Chelsea in the semifinals.

The other half of the draw is dominated by Italian clubs with the possibility of a Milan derby in the semifinals.

AC Milan will first face Napoli, the runaway Serie A leader which is making its debut in the quarterfinals of the Champions League or the old European Cup. The first leg is at San Siro.

Inter Milan will play at Benfica in the first leg, returning to the country where it eliminated Porto in the round of 16.

Inter is playing at this stage of the competition for the first time in 12 years, while Milan is ending an 11-year wait.

Six former champions who have combined for 34 titles in the 68-year history of the competition were in the draw. Only Napoli and Man City have yet to be European champions.

The first legs will be played on April 11 and 12. The return games are scheduled for April 18 and 19.

The semifinal matches will be played between May 9-17 and the final is set for June 10 at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.



China’s Huang and Sheng Win First Gold of Paris Games at Air Rifle Mixed Team Event

 China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
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China’s Huang and Sheng Win First Gold of Paris Games at Air Rifle Mixed Team Event

 China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao pose on the podium after winning the gold of the shooting 10m air rifle mixed team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at Chateauroux Shooting Centre on July 27, 2024. (AFP)

China's Huang Yuting and Sheng Lihao won the first gold medal of the Paris Games on Saturday in the 10 meters air rifle mixed team event.

Keum Ji-hyeon and Park Ha-jun of South Korea claimed silver and Alexandra Le and Islam Satpayev of Kazakhstan were awarded bronze.

Three years after Yang Qian and Yang Haoran won the gold in Tokyo, compatriots Huang and Sheng made sure China retained it.

The reigning world champions topped the qualifying round ahead of their Korean rivals at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.

The gold medal round was not really a cakewalk though despite them racing to a 14-8 lead after the first 11 shots.

Keum and Park staged a late comeback to reduce the gap at 14-12 but the Chinese pair prevailed 16-12 in the end.

Le and Satpayev gave Kazakhstan their first medal of the Paris Games with a 17-5 romp against the German pair of Anna Janssen and Maximilian Ulbrich.