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Another treble? Three from Spain could make Champions League semis
LONDON (AP) -- There's every chance three Spanish clubs could reach the Champions League semifinals again. UEFA rules mean that Real Madrid, Valencia and Deportivo de La Coruna will be kept apart when the draw for the second phase is made in Geneva on Friday. And, if they win their groups, the three Spanish teams cannot meet in the quarterfinals. Last season, Madrid and Valencia went all the way to the final, the first to be played by two teams from the same country, with Real winning 3-0 to extend its record to eight titles. Barcelona also made it to the semis before losing to Valencia. The same scenario could happen all over again and, this time, three English teams could do what the Spaniards did last season. Manchester United, Arsenal and Leeds also are in Friday's draw and the same circumstances apply with teams from the same countries kept apart. UEFA also will make sure that teams which qualified from the same group in round one won't meet in round two. UEFA has also seeded teams on the basis of their own and their countries' records in previous competitions. That means Real Madrid can't meet Spartak Moscow again, Arsenal can't draw Lazio, Valencia and Lyon will be kept apart, Austria's Sturm Graz will miss Turkey's Galatasaray, Deportivo won't meet Panathinaikos, Bayern Munich can't play Paris Saint Germain, Belgium's Anderlecht won't face Manchester United and AC Milan will avoid Leeds. Taking the rules and coefficients into account, UEFA on Thursday announced that the teams would be placed into four pots from which they will be drawn. Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Valencia and AC Milan are together in one and therefore can't meet each other. Neither can Deportivo La Coruna, Arsenal, Anderlecht and Sturm Graz, who are in pot two. Lazio, Manchester United, Spartak Moscow and Paris Saint-Germain are in pot three, while Lyon, Galatasaray, Panathinaikos and Leeds are in pot four. That means there will be no confrontation in round two between Leeds and Galatasaray, whose meeting in last season's UEFA Cup semifinal led the to the fatal stabbing of two Leeds fans in Istanbul. Arsenal could run into former Highbury star Nicolas Anelka, who left the club in acrimonious circumstances to join Real Madrid. The French striker won the Champions Cup with the Spanish club last season and now plays for Paris Saint Germain. Surprise qualifiers include Sturm Graz and Anderlecht, who wound up group winners, French club Lyon and Panathinaikos. The Greek club's 3-1 victory over Juventus not only eliminated the Italian soccer giant but also made sure it didn't even finish third for the consolation of a place in the third round of the UEFA Cup. Barcelona settled for a berth in the UEFA Cup by finishing third in its group, despite a 5-0 crushing of Besiktas in its final game on Wednesday. Glasgow Rangers, PSV Eindhoven, Hamburg, Norway's Rosenborg, Greek champion Olympiakos, Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine and Germany's Bayer Leverkusen also will go into Friday's UEFA Cup draw. They will join the survivors from Thursday's second round games and Hertha Berlin, Munich 1860, Croatia's Osijek and AEK Athens who qualified on Tuesday.
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