Football fans in the world were hoping to see a confrontation between the two stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the price of the Champions League final, and suddenly this wish was fulfilled, and the draw for the round resulted in a meeting between Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, before the European Union for the game (UEFA) announced the return of the draw after a “mistake” fatal".
This incident, which UEFA described as a "fundamental mistake", opened the door wide to a "conspiracy theory" in the draw for the quarter-finals of the continental competition.
What if I talked about a "conspiracy theory"?
Eight teams qualified for the quarter-finals, including 4 English teams, 3 Spanish teams, a team from Germany and another from Portugal. The draw - which has no determinants - did not result in a confrontation between two Spanish or English teams.
The result of the lottery was as follows:
Manchester City - Atletico Madrid.
Villarreal - Bayern Munich.
Benfica - Liverpool.
Chelsea - Real Madrid.
Liverpool coach Klopp expressed his happiness not to face an English rival in the Champions League quarter-finals (French)
The first-leg matches of the quarter-finals will be held on the fifth and sixth of next April, while the return matches will be held on the 12 and 13 of the same month.
It is noteworthy that the last two teams drawn in the draw were Benfica - whom the remaining 7 teams were hoping to face because they believed it was the weakest team in this role - and Liverpool.
But coach Jurgen Klopp said it would be a "mistake" to underestimate the Portuguese team. "I know people will say we are favourites and things like that, but that's really the first mistake you can make. We've been working for a long time in this business and we're not going to make these mistakes."
Klopp expressed his happiness not to face an English opponent, and said, "I am happy that we will not face an English team, not only because of the quality, but also for the sake of the competition. We meet them a lot during the season, and it is good if you face another team in the European Championship."
Moreover, the semi-final draw resulted in confrontations between the winner of the City and Atletico matches with the winner against Chelsea and Real Madrid, and the other confrontation in the semi-final between the winner against Benfica and Liverpool and the winner against Villarreal and Bayern Munich, that is, we may be on a date with a semi-final. Man City and Real Madrid combine and a confrontation between Liverpool and Bayern Munich, in other words, the draw has brought the 4 strongest teams currently in Europe and the most popular, and this will generate tens of millions of euros for UEFA.
This may be a coincidence and the lottery is 100% fair, but in the current world of football, where everything is made and calculated with financial returns, the question presented by the "conspiracy theory" becomes acceptable.
Returning to UEFA’s justification last December about the draw for the final price, which UEFA paid - at the time - to return it, he explained that the draw witnessed a “technical” mistake by placing Manchester United within the possibilities of competing with Villarreal in the final price, which it does not allow. European Union regulations, which stipulate that two teams who played together in one group should not meet in the final price, which was applicable to United and Villarreal.