Mourinho’s experience will come in handy for Chelsea

Ian Hawkey looks at the quarter-final draw, giving Chelsea, Bayern and Madrid the edge over PSG, United and Dortmund, respectively, while unable to call the Barca-Atletico tie

Jose Mourinho and Chelsea will face Paris Saint-Germain in their Uefa Champions League quarter-final match. Matt Dunham / AP Photo

Our correspondent looks at the Uefa Champions League quarter-final draw, giving Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid the edge over PSG, Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund, respectively, while unable to call the Barcelona-Atletico Madrid tie:

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Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea

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The so-called “Big Cup”, the most-sought-after trophy in club football, rarely gets a new name engraved on its honours list.

For the past two decades, the title of best team in Europe has been stubbornly returned to clubs who have had it in the past, with only a couple of exceptions – Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Chelsea in 2012.

If Paris Saint-Germain are to extend the category and move closer to the Uefa Champions League victory their wealthy Qatari backers have targeted, they must barge the latest nouveaux riche left in the competition out of the way.

It took Roman Abramovich nine years and more than a billion euros in transfer fees to transform Chelsea from an occasional contender for domestic cups into a genuine, year-in, year-out continental heavyweight, with a victory in the top prize to endorse that status.

PSG want to fast-track themselves to the same rung of the ladder. Only in 2011 did the club come under the patronage of their new owners and, although that wealth has altered France’s Ligue 1 dramatically and they are on course to defend their domestic crown at a canter, it has propelled PSG only as far as the last eight of the Champions League.

A more dynamic PSG will ready themselves for the quarter-finals this time: instead of an ageing David Beckham, they have Edinson Cavani supporting Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has 40 goals in 40 matches this season.

Compare the centre-forwards of PSG with those of Chelsea and the French capital has a far finer stock.

Compare their current positions in their own tables and Chelsea would envy the wide margin of error enjoyed by the Parisians in their title chase.

But experience counts for a great deal. Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager and Ibrahimovic’s ex-boss at Inter, takes aim at a fifth successive semi-final taking in his spells with Inter Milan and Real Madrid.

He will make sure, in the lead-up, that PSG feel like novices.

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Manchester United v Bayern Munich

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Manchester United manager David Moyes celebrated United’s difficult progress to the last eight – they beat Olympiakos by a single goal on aggregate in the first knockout round – with a typically subdued sort of rallying call.

An “outsider”, he said, could win the competition. He categorised United firmly as outsiders.

Yesterday they became rank outsiders, paired with the title-holders and favourites Bayern Munich, who are so far ahead in the Bundesliga they have already guaranteed their ticket to next year’s Champions League.

United are likelier not to be in this competition next season, which presents an odd contrast in fortunes for two clubs who have almost always thought of themselves as near blood brothers, twinned by the fact they are the most popular and serially successful clubs in their respective leagues.

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Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

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Eleven months ago, Dortmund steamrollered Madrid in a semi-final first leg and remained largely in control of the tie, even though their eventual progress to the final was by only a 4-3 aggregate margin. But Madrid will take heart from the 2-0 home leg result from last year: Dortmund are formidable when they have the sustenance to press and power their way through matches.

Fatigue and too many absentees render them more ordinary.

At the moment, they carry a long injury list, with key men such as Ilkay Gundogan, Jakob Blaszcykowski, Sven Bender, Neven Subotic and Marcel Schmelzer on it.

Striker Robert Lewandowski is suspended for the first leg in Madrid. Madrid are in form, favourites to win the Spanish league and unbeaten since October.

Their 9-2 aggregate win over Dortmund’s neighbours, Schalke, in the previous round was an impressive piece of muscle flexing of their potential.

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Barcelona v Atletico Madrid

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Barcelona and Atletico will meet six times in all this season, and while an assessment of relative European pedigree might suggest the Catalan club should feel mildly relieved at the identity of their quarter-final opponents, recent form makes them wary.

All three meetings so far in 2013/14 have ended in draws. Barca took the Spanish Super Cup title in August only via away goals, having drawn 1-1 at the Vicente Calderon and 0-0 at Camp Nou in the two-leg final.

The clubs shared a goalless draw in the Primera Liga in Madrid in January.

Barca played with caution that night; they will need a more proactive approach from the start of this tie, especially being at home in the first leg.

Atletico’s high-pressure style has claimed some distinguished victims this season, including wins over Real Madrid and AC Milan, and at its most energetic can disrupt opponents wedded to a patient, passing game.

The first legs of the ties are on April 1-2, with the second legs on April 8-9.

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