The UEFA Champions League is a competition that never has been kind to Manchester City Football Club. Not occasionally or rarely. Never.
And that includes Friday, when the draw for the final rounds of the 2020 Champions League was presented.
If City are to raise the most prestigious trophy in club soccer, this is the list of opponents they could have to defeat, in order:
Round of 16: Real Madrid, currently standing first in Spain’s La Liga.
Quarterfinal: Juventus, first in Italy’s Serie A.
Semifinal: Bayern Munich, champions of Germany’s Bundesliga.
Final: Paris Saint Germain, champions of France’s Ligue 1.
To reign over all of Europe, Manchester City might be required to conquer all of Europe.
That was the most compelling element to emerge from Friday morning’s draw, which was conducted from the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland, with the principals remaining in their own headquarters.
But the sight of so many big names in the sport — and some relative newcomers — created a feeling of excitement about the competition being completed. There were fears it might be abandoned after it was suspended in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was not so easy staying in shape, especially for the older players like me,” defender Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus said during the broadcast of the draw. “I woke up early in the morning to have two hours alone to train, and after breakfast, the real training of the day was running behind my daughter.
“Joking apart, it was a real hard deal for everything. But also for us, we can spend many times with our family. We never have this time during the season, during the last 20 years for me. Not everything was so bad. But now we are so happy to restart the season. … We are looking forward to start the Champions League.”
It was strange, but welcome, to have the draw in July. And it also was odd to see it staged with four round of 16 matches still to be completed. But it still produced the possibility of some fascinating matchups when the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds — all single-elimination rounds — are contested in Lisbon between Aug. 12-23.
Champions League Quarterfinals
- Dates: Aug. 12-15
Game 1: Real Madrid/Manchester City winner v. Juventus/Lyon winner
Game 2: Atletico Madrid vs. RB Leipzig
Game 3: Napoli/Barcelona winner v. Bayern/Chelsea winner
Game 4: Atalanta vs. Paris Saint-Germain
Champions League Semifinals
- Dates: Aug. 18-19
Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Game 2 winner vs. Game 4 winner
Champions League Final
- Date: Aug. 23
Semifinal winners
In the round of 16 matches to be completed Aug. 7 — all at the home stadiums of the teams that were on the road in the first leg — Napoli and Barcelona stand 1-1. Juventus trails Lyon, 1-0. Bayern established a commanding 3-0 lead over Chelsea. City hold a 2-1 lead against Real, which gives them a nice edge in away goals because the first leg of their tie was in Madrid.
And City could have less daunting road to the title if Lyon could maintain or extend its current 1-0 lead on Juve when they complete their tie Aug. 7, and if Napoli could take out both Barcelona and Bayern, and if Leipzig or Atalanta slipped all the way to the final — well, honestly, City will take any opponent available if they can make it that far.
But it hasn’t really mattered, through City’s recent emergence as a world power, who they’ve played in Champions League.
Man City’s 2017-18 team, perhaps the greatest in the history of the Premier League, was blown out over two legs of a quarterfinal matchup against EPL rival Liverpool by a 5-1 aggregate score.
Last year, City fell in the quarterfinals on the basis of away goals to a Tottenham squad that finished 27 points behind in the EPL standings. City has won its league four times in the past decade but only once in its history even has made it as far as the Champions League semifinals.
And there is a sense of urgency for Manchester City because there is no certainty it will be permitted to compete in the next two Champions League competitions.
In February, it was announced they would be banned from European football for two years because of “serious breaches” of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations. City’s appeal of that punishment was heard in the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month, and a decision is expected Monday.
City hasn’t had much luck with Champions League lately, but a win there would be hitting a lottery jackpot.