Champs League S/Finals: Real Face Atletico, Monaco Battle Juventus

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will meet in the semi-final of the Champions League for the fourth successive season while Monaco will take on Juventus.
In a repeat of last season’s final, the La Liga and city rivals will first meet at the Bernabeu on either 2 or 3 May with the return leg taking place the following week in what will be the Vicente Calderon’s final European fixture.
Monaco will host Serie A champions Juventus at the Stade Louis II in the first leg before travelling to Turin’s Juventus Stadium for the reverse fixture.
Cardiff’s Principality Stadium will play host to the final on 3 June, the first time the Champions League conclusion has ever been held in Wales.
Liverpool legend Ian Rush was on hand for the draw and pulled 11-time champions Real Madrid out of the pot, followed by Atletico.
After the semi-finals were drawn, Rush then drew the teams for the final, a formality to decide which semi-final winner will be designated as the ‘home’ side. The winner of Monaco and Juventus were given that honour.
It will be the fourth successive season in which Atletico and Real have met in the competition, but the first time they have contested a semi-final:
Real Madrid beat Atletico in both the 2014 and 2016 final and also knocked them out at the quarter-final stage in 2015.
Los Blancos sealed La Decima in a 4-1 victory in 2014, but needed a last-minute Sergio Ramos equaliser before Gareth Bale, Marcelo and Cristiano Ronaldo scored in extra time.
Atletico came even closer to their first Champions League title two years later, taking Zinedine Zidane’s men all the way to penalties only for Juanfran to miss the decisive spot kick. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal.
An 88th minute strike from Javier Hernandez sealed Real Madrid’s quarter-final win in 2015, the only goal across the two legs.
Juventus go into the game against Monaco with recent history on their side having most recently triumphed against the Ligue 1 leaders in a quarter-final tie en route to the final in 2015.
Arturo Vidal’s penalty in the first leg and a 0-0 stalemate in the second was enough to see the Italians qualify for the semi-final. They would ultimately finish runners-up after losing to Barcelona 3-1 in the final.
The draw took place at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday morning and the Europa League semi-final draw is scheduled to take place in the same venue at 12.00 BST.
Manchester United, Lyon, Ajax and Celta Vigo make up the four teams in that draw with the ties scheduled to begin on May 4 with the return leg the following week.