Draw kind on Chelsea

ROBERTO DI MATTEO'S Chelsea were drawn against Benfica in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, with the first leg to be played in Portugal. The Stamford Bridge club are the last remaining English team in the competition after progressing to the last eight following Wednesday's epic win over Napoli. And Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who earlier in March sacked Andre Villas-Boas seemingly over a fear of failure in the Champions League, is unlikely to have any complaints about his club's next opponents. Benfica knocked out Zenit St Petersburg in the last 16, but were a preferable draw to the two Spanish heavyweights of Barcelona and Real Madrid, with the tie pitting Ramires and David Luiz against their former club. Jorge Jesus' team did finish above Manchester United in Group C of the qualifying phase for the knockout stages, however, they are on paper among the weaker teams. The draw for the semi-finals was not so kind on Chelsea and should they eliminate Benfica, they will face either AC Milan or Pep Guardiola's defending champions, Barcelona. Arsenal's conquerors, Milan, and Barcelona were again drawn together after twice meeting in this season's group stages. Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid's reward for the two-legged win over CSKA Moscow was a tie against major underdogs APOEL and the first leg will be played in Cyprus. Bayern Munich, whose Allianz Arena will stage this season's final on 19th May, will face Didier Deschamps' Marseille, with the opening encounter in France. Owing to the fact Real, who would take on Bayern or Marseille in the semis, and Barcelona were kept on opposite sides of the draw, the two Spanish rivals could meet in what would be a dream final. Quarter-final ties will be played on March 27th/28th and April 3rd/4th, while the semi-finals will take place on April 17th/18th and 24th/25th.