Today’s draw for the Champions League quarter-finals saw APOEL and Ivan Trickovski being drawn to face Real Madrid and Cristiano Ronaldo.

A tough draw for the surprise of the season in APOEL.  After advancing from the group stage as the group winners and then eliminating Lyon from the Round of 16, APOEL and Trickovski will now face one of the best clubs in the history of football in Real Madrid.  The Spanish club is led by Cristiano Ronaldo while the manager is José Mounrinho who used to coach Goran Pandev at Inter.

The first leg will be played in Cyprus on 27 March, while the return leg will be at the Santiago Bernabéu in Spain on 4 April.  It is hard to see APOEL pulling off another surprise against Real Madrid but the club will certainly give their best and look to continue their improbable run.  Nobody expected APOEL to reach this point so the team has nothing to lose and will rely on teamwork and organization to neutralize the Spanish giants. 

In the other quarter-final matches, Olympique de Marseille will face Bayern München, Benfica will take on Chelsea, while the best duel will be the clash between Milan and Barcelona.  The winner of APOEL – Real Madrid will play the winner of Olympique de Marseille – Bayern München in the semi-finals.