Giants clash in intriguing Champions League draw

Liverpool will play Juventus for the first time since the Heysel Stadium disaster at the 1985 European Cup final following the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Friday.

The pairing brings the two clubs together for the first time just two months before the 20th anniversary of the disaster in which 39 fans died following a riot by Liverpool supporters at the match in Brussels which Juventus won 1-0.

The match went ahead after the disaster and Juventus won with the only goal scored from a 58th minute penalty converted by Michel Platini.

The game turned out to be the last played by an English team in Europe for five seasons following a ban imposed by UEFA.

"It's a long time since we played," Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry told Reuters. "We tried one or two times to play friendlies but it just didn't work out."

"I'd say there's a great relationship between the clubs now and even between the supporters."

"It was all a long time ago. It's never something you forget, but I'd say everyone will be more focussed on the football now and it's a very challenging tie."

Romi Gai, Juventus's marketing and communications director, told Italy's Sky Sports: "It will obviously be a special occasion. It is 20 years exactly and we haven't played since."

"There are friendly relations between the two clubs and I was speaking before with Parry and he told me that if we are drawn together their fans want to do something to pay their respects."

"I think it will be a great sporting occasion carried out in a positive spirit."

Their only other meetings in Europe happened 20 years before the Heysel disaster, in the first round of the old European Cup Winners' Cup.

Juventus won the first leg 1-0 in Turin but Liverpool beat them 2-0 in the return at Anfield on October 13, 1965 before going on to reach the final the following May which they lost to 2-1 to Borussia Dortmund in Glasgow.

AC Milan were drawn to play rivals Inter Milan for the second time in three seasons with Milan being the only team to defeat Inter in any match this season.

Carlo Ancelotti's men currently share the lead in Serie A with Juventus with Inter in third place, and along with Chelsea are widely regarded as favourites to win this season's competition.

Inter Milan president Giacinto Facchetti, a member of Inter's two European Cup winning teams of 1964 and 1965, said: "It would have been better to avoid an Italian team but there you go. We knew that none of the seven teams would be easy opponents."

"We played them recently and now will prepare better this time," he said referring to the 1-0 Serie A defeat by Milan on February 27.

Umberto Gandini, AC Milan's director of organisation added: "Its an unwelcome outcome and it is going to be very tough. This draw brings even more tension, more pressure on the city, the fans, the clubs, everyone."

"I think it will be even more stressful than two years ago," he said, referring to the semi-final won on 'away goals' by Milan who went on to win the competition.

Bayern Munich, who knocked out Londoners Arsenal in the last round, return to London to play Chelsea for the first time in European competition.

Chelsea, the runaway leaders in England and poised to succeed Arsenal as English champions, knocked out Barcelona in the last round and will find Bayern stubborn, but beatable.

One of the two outsiders will also make it through to the semi-finals after Olympique Lyon, the only one of the eight not to have won a European trophy, were drawn to play PSV Eindhoven, who knocked out AS Monaco out in the last round.

Jean-Michel Aulas, Olympique Lyon chairman said: "We have the opportunity to avenge Monaco, but it inconvenient that we have to play the first leg at home."

"It won't be easy because PSV dominated Monaco during both games, but we will contact them for advice. It is our luck that Monaco have played them and that they have a great tactician in Didier Deschamps."

Lyon cannot be underestimated. They are topscorers in the competition with 27 goals so far and knocked out German champions Werder Bremen 10-2 on aggregate in the last round.

The winners of the Chelsea-Bayern tie will meet either Liverpool or Juventus in one semi-final. AC Milan or Inter Milan will meet Lyon or PSV in the other.

That means there could be an all-Italian final but not an all-English one which will no doubt please the authorities in Istanbul where the final will be staged on May 25.

The first legs of the quarter-finals are on April 5-6 with the return legs on April 12-13. The semis are on April 26-27 with the returns on May 3-4.