"Real Madrid!"
On television, when UEFA Secretary General Infantino took the ball from Paul Breitner, the ambassador for the Champions League Final venue, broke it open, pulled out the slip of paper, turned it around to show the camera, and loudly called out the name, a stir swept through the venue, followed by startled cries of disbelief.
In the Real Madrid players' lounge at the Valdebebas Training Base, there was an equally surprised outburst.
They drew Real Madrid!
This was the fourth draw for the Champions League quarterfinals, and also the most anticipated one, because the team drawn third was APOEL, the weakest side among the quarterfinalists in terms of overall strength.
Real Madrid had been hailed as the strongest team in this season's Champions League so far. The Galácticos had defended their Champions League title for two consecutive years, and this year they had once again stormed into the quarterfinals. Now they had drawn a weak side like APOEL, which was practically a free pass to the semifinals.
Even more surprising was that the first and second draws had been AC Milan and Barcelona respectively. In other words, AC Milan and Barcelona, who had been in the same group, would meet again in the quarterfinals, and the winner would face the winner of Real Madrid and APOEL in the semifinals.
The reason everyone cried out was that Real Madrid and Barcelona were the two Spanish Super League teams most widely expected to win the title before the draw. Yet they had been placed in the same half of the bracket for the semifinals, meaning they could no longer meet in the final.
The draw for the lower half quickly became dull. Marseille drew Bayern Munich, while Benfica drew Chelsea. These were all fairly conventional matchups. It could even be