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.



Olympic Cauldron to Rise into Paris Skies Each Night

 Paris 2024 Olympics - Paris, France - July 27, 2024. A general view of the balloon and Olympic cauldron in Jardin des Tuileries. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Paris, France - July 27, 2024. A general view of the balloon and Olympic cauldron in Jardin des Tuileries. (Reuters)
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Olympic Cauldron to Rise into Paris Skies Each Night

 Paris 2024 Olympics - Paris, France - July 27, 2024. A general view of the balloon and Olympic cauldron in Jardin des Tuileries. (Reuters)
Paris 2024 Olympics - Paris, France - July 27, 2024. A general view of the balloon and Olympic cauldron in Jardin des Tuileries. (Reuters)

The Olympic cauldron that made a stunning first flight at the Paris Games opening ceremony will sit on the ground during the day and rise again every evening.

Paris Olympics organizers said that from Saturday, the cauldron attached to a balloon will fly more than 60 meters (197 feet) above the Tuileries gardens near the glass pyramid entrance to the Louvre museum from sunset until 2 a.m.

During daytime hours, 10,000 people each day can get free tickets to approach the cauldron, which is the first in Olympic history to light up without the use of fossil fuels.

Organizers said the electric flame uses 40 LED spotlights “to illuminate the cloud created by 200 high-pressure misting nozzles.”