Tottenham draw Manchester City in Champions League quarterfinals

The draw for the 2019 Champions League quarterfinals and semi-finals was held this morning in Nyon, Switzerland, with Tottenham Hotspur one of four Premier League teams left in the competition. Unfortunately, Tottenham drew what is arguably the toughest team left in the competition — fellow Premier League side Manchester City.

Here are the results of the quarterfinal draw, in full:

• Ajax vs. Juventus
• Liverpool vs. Porto
• Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City
• Barcelona vs. Manchester United

At this stage of the Champions League you should not expect an easy opponent, but it’s a little jarring to pull what is once again one of the hardest teams available to Spurs in the bowl. It’s especially irritating to also see Liverpool draw Porto, because of course they f—king drew Porto.

But look, in this competition if you wanna be the best you have to beat the best. Spurs are going to have to play out of their skins to advance in the next round, but the odds were already pretty good that they’d be drawn against someone scary. And as we’ve seen, they have a puncher’s chance against any team left in the field. So let’s go.

If you’re looking for a small silver lining, Spurs are on the side of the bracket with Ajax & Juventus, which means if nothing else, Tottenham’s path to the Champions League finals doesn’t go through both Manchester City AND Barcelona. So there’s that.

Tottenham were drawn first, which means they’ll host City at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 9. They will play City in the reverse fixture on April 16 before returning four days later to the Etihad to play them again in the Premier League. Ouch.