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Fans convinced the Champions League draw was 'rigged' for Italian teams

Fans convinced the Champions League draw was 'rigged' for Italian teams

It was a very good day for Serie A sides, as they have three out of four chance of reaching the final of the Champions League.

Football fans think there's a conspiracy theory about the Champions League quarter final and semi final draws, with the Italian teams handed the dream scenarios.

Hamit Altintop and Patrick Kluivert were handed duties to pick the balls out of a bowl to decide which of the remaining eight sides played each other in Europe's top club competition.

Altintop was chosen due to the fact the final will be held in his home country of Turkey, whilst Kluivert was presumably given the role to balance out the bad news for Patricks around the world on their Saints day, after Vieira's sacking earlier in the day.

There was much intrigue, with four standout teams in the shape of Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Napoli, where most assumed the winners would come from.

Whilst City fans would not have been pleased to see Bayern get drawn alongside them in the quarters, despite hammering a Bundesliga team on Tuesday, they may have been even more annoyed to see they may get Real in the semis.

Los Blancos will continue the defence of their European title against Chelsea in the quarters, who they beat at the same stage last year.

That meant the other side of the draw was packed with Serie A sides, as Inter Milan were drawn alongside Benfica, and league leaders got defending champions AC Milan.

The semis draw means one Italian side is guaranteed to be in the final four, whilst another has a good chance, giving them a 3/4 chance of making the final, and fans believe it wasn't a coincidence.

"They have just directly put a Serie A side to the Champions League finals. Tell me it’s not rigged," said one fan, perhaps forgetting Benfica are from Portugal.

A very optimistic Chelsea fan added, "Guys what are the odds of this happening then? How come Napoli get easy teams (the team everyone wants to win) and the four hardest all draw each other?! Gotta be some sort of rigged," in what world are Chelsea a harder draw than Napoli right now?!

"It's literally so so rigged for Napoli to win," claimed a third.

Even fellow Italian fans were getting involved, with one AC Milan supporter griping, "We draw Napoli soo f***ing scripted, rigged."

A fifth posted, "Wait so you’re telling me either AC Milan/Napoli/Inter/Benfica has a chance to play the UCL final. wow! rigged much."

Napoli are apparently being crowned champions by UEFA. Image: Alamy
Napoli are apparently being crowned champions by UEFA. Image: Alamy

Taking it further, another tweeted, "Reaching the semi final by beating Porto and Benfica or Frankfurt and Milan is crazy. They really rigged it so Serie A fans would stop crying about being accurately called a B tier league."

Not everyone thinks the idea of it being rigged is a bad idea however, with one replying, "Milan vs Napoli & City vs Bayern suggests that rigged draws are not bad after all. Uefa has cooked with this draw!!"

And one sensible Chelsea fan, we finally found one, noted, "People talking about the Champions League draw being rigged like we wouldn't get our arses handed to us by Napoli."

So Napoli are being ordained as champions apparently, but no one will be surprised when Real end up as 15 times champions.

Featured Image Credit: BT Sport

Topics: Football, Serie A, Champions League, Italy, Napoli, Inter Milan, AC Milan