The Europa League quarter-final and semi-final draw took place this afternoon in Nyon, and AC Milan have a tough path to the final in Dublin.
Milan booked their place in the last eight thanks to a 7-3 aggregate win against Slavia Praha. After a 4-2 victory at San Siro, the job was completed in the Czech capital last night thanks to a 3-1 triumph.
The draw for the final eight of the competition took place at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, today and there were certainly some teams that looked like fierce opponents on paper.
Given that there was no longer a block on drawing a team from the same country and seeding was removed, it meant Milan could draw the following: Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, Benfica, Atalanta, Roma or Marseille.
Milan were the first team out in the draw, and they were pitted against domestic rivals Roma who are certainly having a resurgence under Daniele De Rossi.
Then, the semi-final draw followed and it determined that the Rossoneri – should they get past the Giallorossi – will face the winner of West Ham United versus Bayer Leverkusen.
Below is the draw in full, and the dates of the two legs.
AC Milan vs. Roma
Liverpool vs. Atalanta
Bayer Leverkusen vs. West Ham
Benfica vs. Marseille
Quarter-final first legs: 11 April
Quarter-final second legs: 18 April
Semi-final first legs: 2 May
Semi-final second legs: 9 May
Final: 22 May
SF Milan vs Leverkusen
F Milan vs Liverpool
If leverkusen and liverpool beaten we should get this one
Yes,Milan Vs Liverpool Final
I still cant forget we lose UCL final after leading 3-0. i hope we dont face them final
A great draw for us and we should have a fairly good chance reaching the final as I see it.
It’s as good as we could hope for. Possibly Roma then Leverkusen then Liverpool
Saying that Roma have been excellent under De Rossi, we will need to be at our very best, but that’s what winning trophies requires!
We have a fully fit squad, so no excuses
Absolutely only thing i would have added was that liverpool and keverkusen had met each other in the semis,
Yeah Roma shouldnt underestimated but it should be doable nevertheless.
Yeah and if it stays fairly intacy we should be able to reach the final.
fairly intact…
I dunno, wouldn’t drawing one of West Ham, Benfica or Marseille in the QFs and then whichever one of those three was left in the semis have been the best scenario?
We can only play Liverpool in the final in a neautral venue (Dublin) for 90 mins.
Def gives us a better chance than 180mins and going to Anfield.
If we are good enough to make it that far.
Roma, Leverkusen, Liverpool – It’s good they gradually increase in quality and that way we can build up some steam!
I would have preferred Leverkusen, for me only Liverpool is stronger than this current Roma. I hope we can make it to the semis!
Even though i definitely think that we shouldn’t underestimate roma i disagree and think a lot can have changed for them in the coming month because currently they are riding on a breath of fresh air but no guarantee that it will last and they will also play Lazio right before meeting us in the first Europa League match. Both teams can progress though but I’m glad we drew Roma.
De Rossis Roma is a whole different beast. Milan will need to really improve how Theyre currently playing to beat this side (they will score a ton of goals against us if our defence is the same shape). But its a very good opportunity to make it to the SF!
yeah De Rossi Roma is the best team in Italy, how can Milan hope to beat such a team?
Maybe one day people here will stop overrating these teams based off 2 months of results jesus christ.
I thought we were underrating Slavia? Now we are overrating Roma, strange logic
do you just make up stories in your head as you see fit?
are you a Schizo? Sorry, shouldnt be talking to you then
Let’s be realistic is still Roma, Napoli from last season was way better than this Roma team they even won Seria A dominated the league but in UCL Milan beat them.
Roma with duo beast Lukaku and Dybala
The path is chartered. Let’s go!
Milan wins this mid dif
Not good (Roma is a different team under De Rossi), not bad (Liverpool).
We start with small advantage, we are the favourite but I wouldn’t be overly optimistic here. It will be a tough match up.
I was hoping to play West ham. Some Epl fan friend of mine was saying how even West ham would beat Milan haha typical Epl fan thing. Roma would be interesting. Forza Milan!!
We’re making finals!
As good as Roma is right now, I think we can beat them in Europe
And beat West Ham as well!
Every game is played on the field not on paper. Milan should not take this game lightly. I am confident because last season we beat Napoli in UCL to get to the semifinals who was a much better opponent than the current Roma team but we are facing a team with new life in it so it will be a challenge for sure.
Avoiding Liverpool until the final is the best possible draw you can have.
I’d rather play them now, instead of meeting them in the final. They’ve got some tough matches in PL and Cup and also I hate an idea of loosing in final. So wanted to beat them in QF or in case we loose no to waste time on this competition. Worst scenario is reaching final and loosing – hope it won’t happenml.
Typical UEFA, Italian always had bad draws. One against Liverpool and one meet each other
Always worry when facing italian team
Last year Inter, Milan and Napoli were in by far the easiest side of CL draw, hence having 3 teams in quarters and 2 in semis.
How could we have done better today?
They pulled balls out of a pot, are you suggesting some very sophisticated plot? If so, how would that work?
You do know that when one meet the other it automatically means an Italian side progresses. That’s a good thing though
Well that’s rubbish, always prefer to play teams from other countries if it’s possible to do so
Me too. Teams from same country were avoiding each other until semis. Now they changed it to this
Well I see a draw that is tricky no game is easy we just need to put in our best that’s all and pray for luck
I don’t understand, do you guys really think we can beat Leverkusen to get to the final ?
That is a beast that even Liverpool would struggle with.
I hope to get to the final and even win it, but realistically, Leverkusen and Liverpool are above our pay grade
Don’t assume Leverkusen will overcome West Ham. You can never tell what can happen. Quarabag was 4 mm invites away from this round. That was how close the margin was.
AC MILAN VS LIVERPOOL IN THE FINALS.
And it will be the 3rd time they will be meeting themselves in the finals in europe. This is so interesting to watch.
#Forzamilan
I love your enthusiasm, but for me only Liverpool is stronger than this current Roma. I hope we can make it to the finals like you predict!
Milan certainly have a better team than Roma. If they fail to advance to the semi-finals, then Pioli will have proven himself to not be suitable for Milan anymore. No matter how good De Rossi as a coach is, Milan simply have a considerably better team.
Yeah De Rossi is new super coach based off from 2 months of results, this is 10/10 twitter teenager logic
He is been coaching roma for two months , our assesment should be based on what ?! ,, a period when he wasnt the couch ! Please bless us with ur logic ?!
If we were to face AS Roma tomorrow, I would be 100% confident, but I’m not sure how our mentality will be by than.
The return leg will be hectic for us. ROMA INTER AND JUVENTUS. But I have trust in Pioli he always knows how to steady the ship on a blink of sinking.
I guess the positive is they don’t have to travel abroad that week
Why would our mentality change? The EL is the only thing we could possibly win, and given our great positioning in the league for CL qualification, we should be able to focus on the EL. We only have three remaining “difficult” games in the league, against Juventus, Inter and Roma, the rest are very winnable. And the Roma game is the last one, so if we don’t have CL qualification sowed up by then I would say we have bigger problems. So that league game ought to be relatively inconsequential. Then during that stretch of games you mention, the focus ought to be on the EL, as losses against Juventus and Inter should only really be hits to our pride vs having any material effect on our goal of CL qualification. I think we’re in decent shape.
Milan have a great chance to make it to the final. Milan vs Liverpool in Dublin will be quite a game….
We have not lost to Roma since 2019, if we lose this draw my jaw will drop lol
Said it before, will say it here again.
Uefa really want that leverkusen v liverpool final.
I hope milan can disrupt uefa’s plan.
At least last 2 matches against qarabak, leverkusen looked shaky.
But of course first they have to win against the new ressurected roma.
Roma are on the rise but they’re leaky in defense just as we are. Our advantage over Roma is having feet on the ground while they are just “after Mou” hyped. Honestly, I’d be more concerned drawing Atalanta. Roma is best possible outcome from this draw.
It’s the same team we’ve beaten just with a little more enthusiasm. They are beatable. Our calendar gets choppy though.
Only milan fans are believing that DDR’S roma will beat milan, Roma and its fans they know that milan will beat them on any day, all they can do is die trying, for them its the game of their life, milan always shines in europe, another european final loading, even in our poor season
That’s pretty balanced then.They believe we will win and we believe they will! At least at the end there will be no disappointments for either of the fans
Neither
True 🤣, problem is milan fans who think that we will lose they are always disappointed, whether the team wins or looses, they are disappointed and angry
It’s the last 8 in a major European cup so you can’t underestimate anyone, but we are the best team in our half of the draw, no doubt.
Short of a miracle the final will be against Liverpool but I’d rather play them for 90 mins than 180 – they are absolutely terrifying this year.
Anyone believing we can’t get through Roma isn’t a real football fan. They struggle against la Viola barely made a comeback. Roma is in form against small fish. They have yet to prove themselves against big teams.
Another thing, you kids aren’t aware in Europe Milan is a different beast once through round of 16. AC Milan always manages their games and advances far.
My only concern would be Bayer since this team fighting spirit is extremely high. But if Pioli could go back watching Roma footage against Bayer last season and compare to this season.
Lastly, we have to win another final against Liverpool, they talk too much about 2005..
😀 right after the draw I called a friend of mine who is a Liverpool fan as the city i live in its pretty much only liverpool and utd fans 🙁 he was also fairly cocky if we were to meet in the final so yeah lets get that final and hopefully beat them. In the end though I think we would have been the deserved winner in 05 whereas I think Liverpool had the best match in 07 so they should calm down a bit and a 1 tie final can always be won by either team even though I consider Liverpool as the favorites to lift the trophy.
I live just down the road from Liverpool and know loads of fans. I’ve joked with them that while we were fairly evenly matched squads when we beat they in 07, they won as massive underdogs in 05 so it’s our turn to win massive as underdogs this time :D.
They are on another planet this season to be fair, but one match winner takes all, we can do it!
😀 i agree, I live in denmark though but do sometimes visit a bar in the city owned and frequented by Liverpool fans, do I need to say that I’ve sometimes dropped in with an AC Milan shirt on and messed a bit around with them 😀 If we end up in a final against them then I wont show up though because if we lose it will be unbearable and im also rather ludly outspoken when watching a match with AC Milan so I might actually bash Liverpools players and in the process ending up offending the entire bar and having to fight off a bunch of angry Liverpool fans 😀
It would be a daunting task no question there but they have also lost against Tottenham and drawn against Luton and Brighton so its not completely impossible to cause them some concern but lets see and we do have a lot of work to do before potentially arriving in Dublin.
loudly outspoken….
2007 alleviated some of the lingering pain of 2005, but it personally never really healed for me (especially since I was watching the game with many of my mates who are Liverpool fans lol) Would be nice if we can spank them once again!
I see many people already talking about SF or even Finals !!
The truth is this is a different Roma than Mourinho’s which we used to have an easy time against. Every since we beat them they won 8 out of 12 games losing only twice, once against Inter and the other time against Brighton whom they already beaten 4-0 in the first leg. I’m not saying that they’re better than us, but I’m saying that whatever results we had in the past are now irrelevant and we have to put in mind that we are facing an unkown team.
Aside from Roma, I understand that Leverkusen’s difficult games against Qarabağ FK make people hopeful that we can beat them easily, but again it might be a lucky series for them. Neither Leverkusen (or West Ham for that matter) are going to be easy.
Forza Milan!
Agree this Roma is a very tough opponent and they could knock us out. Their wage bill is markedly higher than ours and they are starting to play like it. But I think out of the 7 teams we could have faced, they are right in the middle of the pack after pool, leverkusen and Atalanta which has our #. Not a good or bad draw.
I mean, this isn’t the easiest draw. But it’s what we have to deal with.
1. Roma is beatable. They are playing with renewed fire, but tactically DeRossi is limited and it’s still the same Roma we beat twice already. This game is winnable.
2. The problem is that AFTER Roma we are facing the winner of Leverkusen/WH, which could be a tough test. For some reason we’re playing the first leg of both ties at home…
3. In a short window, we’re facing Roma, Inter and Juve…
Gonna be rough waters here, boys…
Yes, it isn’t the easiest draw. Ideally Leverkusen and Liverpool would be on the same side of the bracket, with Roma and Atalanta. We’d be with Benfica, West Ham and Marseille. That would be 100% the best draw, but things rarely line up so beautifully, so, it is what it is; at least we have avoided Liverpool unless we meet them at the final. And yes, even though Roma has improved, I’d rather face them than Atalanta. We seem to have Roma’s number, while Atalanta seems to have our number. We did outplay Atalanta last time and I believe we won that match but the ref found otherwise. Still, they are hard to beat; I prefer Roma.
“For some reason we’re playing the first leg of both ties at home” – the “some reason” is a draw. After the match-ups were determined, the draw also determined who would have the second leg at home. Unfortunately we got both rounds with the second leg away.
I agree, Roma is beatable but can’t be underestimated as they have improved since we last beat them; I think it’s not only a question of a hot streak by the new coach, but also a mental thing: most likely nasty Mourinho who always throws his own players under the bus, had already lost the locker room and players were unhappy about playing for him, and weren’t mentally at their best; this has likely changed which does make a difference.
I also agree that the winner of Leverkusen v West Ham will be hard to beat. Leverkusen are on a 37-game unbeaten streak; in our entire history we only won one game in England against an EPL team; that was our recent Newcastle victory. But I think Leverkusen will win their round so that’s likely who we will face next if we survive Roma.
Roma then if we survive, Leverkusen, then if we survive Liverpool, and Inter/Roma/Juve the same week won’t be easy at all.
I think we can get past Roma but I’m not sure we’ll survive Leverkusen and then beat Liverpool in the final. I do not believe we will win the Europa League. However, I do hope we will; underdogs sometimes do win.
The draw could have indeed been easier. I’m not worried about that Roma/Inter/Juve stretch as out of the last 10 league games, only 3 are difficult: The Juve and Inter games plus the last match of the season at Roma. If we do what we should be able to do, that is, win the 7 winnable games, the results against Inter and Juve shouldn’t matter too much, and the league match against Roma should be inconsequential for our goal of CL qualification. Assuming we win the 7 easier games and lose the 3 big matches, and Roma (currently 5th) wins all 10 of their remaining games (unlikely, keeping in mind they need to play Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, Atalanta and Bologna), they would be on 78 points and we would be on 80 points, finishing no lower than 4th. I’m very optimistic given our remaining schedule. Pioli will need to be careful, but I think that by the time of that Roma/Juve/Inter stretch of games he can begin to rest key players in Serie A games that fall before EL games to save them for the EL games.
“For some reason we’re playing the first leg of both ties at home…”
We were drawn out of the pot 1st, hence we play at home first.
If we make the final, we will be the “away” team