UEFA Champions League Draw: Barcelona Draw AC Milan

Quarterfinals (First legs March 27 and 28, second legs April 4 and 5)

Semifinals (First legs April 17 and 18, second legs April 24 and 25)

With their penalty shootout victory against Olympique Lyonnais, APOEL Nicosia became the first team from Cyprus to progress to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Considering that they needed to win three playoff rounds to get into the group stages, then get through a group with Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Porto, then defeat Lyon, this can’t be called luck. APOEL are a really good team, and it’s one of the coolest things going on in football right now.

Basically, everyone who isn’t Greek or a fan of whatever team they draw probably wants to see the Cypriots progress. Some people just want to see good football matches. Here are the best three draws for APOEL, depending on what you want to see.

A final between Real Madrid and Barcelona would be an absolute dream final for the two clubs and for UEFA, who will be backing up money trucks to the Allianz Arena if it happens. That final, however, denies the public an extra game. If they meet in the quarterfinals or semifinals, they have to play twice.

If you’re a fan of El Clasico or of good football matches in general, you don’t want a Madrid - Barca final. You want them to end up on the same half of Friday’s draw. Hopefully we’re lucky enough to get it.

The UEFA Champions League is down to eight teams and on Friday, those eight teams will find out their path to the final. The final draw for this season’s edition of the Champions League will take place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, where the remaining teams will find out their opponents for the quarterfinals and also which quarterfinal winners will be paired against which for the semifinals. The picking of the balls out of the jars gets underway at 11:45 CET.

The two-legged quarterfinals will take place on March 27-28 and April 3-4 with the semifinals on April 17-18 and April 24-25. The final is not until May 19, when all eyes will be on Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany for the biggest club match in the world for the year.