- Title: SWITZERLAND: DRAW TAKES PLACE FOR QUARTER-FINALS OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.
- Date: 21st March 2003
- Summary: CUP OF UEFA CUP VARIOUS OF UEFA CUP DRAW VARIOUS OF CHAIRMAN OF UEFA CLUB COMPETITION FRIEDRICH STICKLER ANNOUNCING THE MATCHES OF THE UEFA CUP SEMI-FINALS WIDE OF UEFA AUDITORIUM BOAVISTA DIRECTOR GENERAL PAULO LEITE GONCALVES SHAKING HANDS WITH CELTIC CHIEF EXECUTIVE IAN MCLEOD (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) PAULO LEITE GONCALVES, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF BOAVISTA F.C., SAYING: "It was a good draw, because we hope to face F.C. Porto -- which is also from Portugal and from the same city as us -- in the finals, we will fight for it and Celtic is a team we wanted to play against, we have never played against them before, they have a tradition, they are very sympathetic, their supporters like football a lot..." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) IAN McLEOD, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF CELTIC, SAYING: "We are delighted with the draw, first we are delighted to be here. This is the best Celtic has done in the European competition in about thirty years so we are absolutely delighted to be part of the semi-final draw, Boavista did well themselves and we are looking forward to the match." UEFA CHIEF EXECUTIVE GERHARD AIGNER (SOUNDBITE) (English) ASKED IF UEFA INTEND TO POSTPONE UPCOMING MATCHES BECAUSE OF THE WAR IN IRAQ, UEFA CHIEF EXECUTIVE GERHARD AIGNER SAYS: "I think that we should not stop sporting activities even if the war is a terrible impression and leaves a terrible impression on a daily basis with us, but I think it will be wrong to stop sporting activities, we should try to continue a normal life as much as possible, so unless we have a security problem, I think we will carry on." WIDE OF UEFA DELEGATES SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 5th April 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NYON, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: General,Sports
- Reuters ID: LVA7XJQ030NSG3WSKLE66LJ3FK7E
- Story Text: European champions Real Madrid were drawn to play Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Friday (March 21).
The draw, made at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, also pitted Inter Milan against Valencia, Ajax Amsterdam against AC Milan and Juventus against Barcelona.
The two-legged quarter-finals will be played on April 8/9 and April 22/23.
Real and United last met in the semi-finals in April 2000 when the teams drew 0-0 in Madrid before Real won 3-2 at Old Trafford.
Real went on to beat Valencia 3-0 in the final in Paris and lift the trophy for the eighth time.
Last year Real beat Bayer Leverkusen for their ninth success.
Ajax won the European Cup for the fourth time when they beat Milan in the final in 1995, while Inter manager Hector Cuper will relish the chance of a match against Valencia, who he took to the final in 2000 and 2001.
The winners of the Real-United match will meet the winners of the Barcelona-Juventus game in the semi-finals so there could still be a derby meeting between Real and Barcelona and Inter and Milan.
The winners of Inter-Valencia face either Ajax or Milan in the other semi-final.
The final takes place at Old Trafford, Manchester on May
Portuguese duo Porto and Boavista were kept apart in the UEFA Cup semi-final draw on Friday, being paired with Lazio and Celtic respectively.
Favourites Lazio and Scottish champions Celtic were originally drawn to be at home in the first legs on April 10.
But faced with the prospect of the two second-leg matches both being played in Oporto on April 24, one of them was switched, with Porto now at home first against the Italians.
No Portuguese club has ever won the UEFA Cup and a local derby in the semi-finals would have guaranteed them a finalist.
However, they now face the possibility of neither progressing after Friday's draw handed them tough ties.
In Thursday's quarter-finals Lazio beat Besiktas 2-1 in Istanbul for a 3-1 aggregate victory, while Celtic knocked out Liverpool with an impressive 2-0 Anfield win to secure their first European semi-final appearance since 1974.
Both Portuguese clubs overturned 1-0 first leg deficits, Porto beating Panathinaikos 2-0 in Athens after extra time and Boavista defeating Malaga 4-1 on penalties after a 1-0 home win on the night -- the fourth time this season they have won after losing the first leg.
None of the four remaining clubs have won the competition, though Celtic and Porto are former European champions and Lazio lifted the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1999 having lost in the UEFA Cup final the previous year.
While Boavista are the 6-1 outsiders of the four, they have the added incentive of knowing that their first appearance in a European final would crown their centenary celebrations.
They have played Celtic once before, losing 3-1 on aggregate in the second round of the 1975-76 Cup Winners' Cup.
The final is in the Spanish city of Seville on May 21.
Draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League made on Friday: Real Madrid v Manchester United Inter Milan v Valencia Ajax Amsterdam v AC Milan Juventus v Barcelona First legs to be played April 8/9. Second legs to be played April 22/23.
Draw for the semi-finals: Real Madrid or Manchester United v Juventus or Barcelona Ajax Amsterdam or AC Milan v Inter Milan or Valencia First leg ties to be played May 6/7. Second leg ties to be played May 13/14.
Draw for the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup made on Friday: Celtic (Scotland) v Boavista (Portugal) Porto (Portugal) v Lazio (Italy) First leg ties to be played on April 10. Second leg ties to be played on April 24. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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