UEFA Champions League draw: 5 former winners in same half; Ronaldo-Messi showdown possible in semifinals

UEFA Champions League draw: The quarterfinal matches will be played on four straight evenings from Aug. 12-15 at a mini-tournament in Portugal. The semifinals are scheduled for Aug. 17-18.

All five former Champions League winners were put into the same half of the draw on Friday, setting up a possible semifinal pairing between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Real Madrid, Juventus, Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern Munich will whittle down one side of the draw to reach the final on Aug. 23 at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.

The other side will between three-time finalist Atletico Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Atalanta and Leipzig.

The quarterfinal matches will be played on four straight evenings from Aug. 12-15 at a mini-tournament in Portugal. The semifinals are scheduled for Aug. 17-18.

Four quarterfinalists are still to be determined, all of them involving the former champions. Juventus and Lyon will complete their round of 16 meeting next month in Turin. The winner of the two-leg series will play either Real Madrid or Manchester City in the quarterfinals.

Barcelona and Napoli also have a game to play in Spain before heading to Portugal. The winner will face either Bayern Munich or Chelsea in the quarterfinals.

Those four outstanding games will be played on Aug. 7 and 8, hosted by the home teams: Barcelona, Bayern, Juventus and Man City.

The other half of the draw was much more straightforward with all four quarterfinals set before the coronavirus pandemic shut down European soccer.

Leipzig will face Atletico Madrid, and debutant Atalanta will take on Paris Saint-Germain. The winners will meet in the semifinals.

The single-leg quarterfinals and semifinals were both drawn Friday, putting Ronaldo and his Juventus teammates on course to meet Messi and Barcelona.