Switzerland hosts Champions League quarter-final draw

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Spanish rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona and the German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund avoided each other when the matchups were drawn for the Champions League quarterfinals on Friday, March 15 in Nyon, Switzerland, The New York Times reported.

Real Madrid will host Turkey’s Galatasaray in the first leg of the quarterfinals, set for April 2-3, then travel to Istanbul for the return leg on April 9 or 10. Barcelona will travel to Paris St.-German in the first leg. P.S.G. employs the former Barcelona striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but the Catalans caught a break because he will be suspended for the first leg.

Bayern Munich, a finalist last year, will face the Italian champion Juventus, and Dortmund will face the third Spanish club in the quarterfinals, Malaga.

This is the first time in 17 years that there are no English clubs in the quarterfinals, though three of them, Chelsea, Tottenham and Newcastle, advanced to the quarters of the second-tier Europa League.