Champions League semi final draw explained: dates of last 4 UCL fixtures as route to final already decided

The Champions League second leg quarter final matches take place this week with Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea all featuring from the English Premier League.

Chelsea’s defence of their trophy came to an end at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night despite winning 3-2 with Real Madrid advaicing 5-4 on aggregate.

Meanwhile, Villareal pulled off the shock of the competition so far by knocking out Bayern Munich as Unai Emery’s side advanced 2-1 on aggregate.

Liverpool are back in action tonight, they beat Benfica 3-1 in Portugal last week while Manchester City, also playing the second leg of their quarter final tonight, were able to score a last-minute goal to beat Atletico Madrid 1-0.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been aiming to go for the quadruple - a feat no English club has been able to achieve before and will look to extend their two-goal lead over Benfica when they host the Portuguese side at Anfield on Wednesday 13 April 2022.

Manchester City are aiming to lift the famous trophy for the first time in the history of the club which would also be the third for Pep Guardiola as a manager.

All this while the two English heavywieghts are battling at the top of the Premier League table and get set to face each other in the semi-final of the FA Cup this weekend.

While the four remaining teams compete to join Real MAdrid and Villareal in the semi-finals, let’s take a look at how the semi final draw works.

How does the Champions League semi final draw work?

The eight quarter-finalists found out who they were likely to face in the semi final after the round of 16 matches took place.

The route to the quarter final, semi final and final were all drawn at the same time.

Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid were on one side of the draw while Benfica, Liverpool, Villarreal and Bayern were on the other.

This means that the winner of Real Madrid will play the winner of Manchester City v Atletico Madrid when the semi final comes around and the winner of Benfica v Liverpool will take on Villarreal.

The semi final winners from the first group will then take on the semi final winners of the second group in the Champions League final.

When do the semi finals take place?

The semi final first legs will take place on either Tuesday 26 April or Wednesday 27 April 2022 while the second leg will take place on Tuesday 3 May and Wednesday 4 May 2022.

The teams that were drawn first in the draw will host first. These teams would be Chelsea, Manchester City, Villarreal and Benfica if they were to make it through to the semi final.

Where will the final take place?

The Champions League final is set for Saturday 28 May at the Stade de France in Paris. It had originally been scheduled to take place in St Petersburg, Russia, but was moved after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.