It was the draw that neither club wanted.
As the final eight super clubs gathered at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Friday, neither of the remaining English sides had any need to feel inferior to their competition peers. Sevilla, Bayern, Juve, Real, Barca and Roma are all dangerous opposition in their own ways, but then so are the Premier League contingent.
Manchester City are winning the English title at a canter, and can make a strong case for the best team in Europe at present. Liverpool are not quite at that level, but with their scintillating style of play and fearsome forward line, they can beat anyone on their day. None of the other six wanted either North-west club.
That’s why it was such cruel fate that they drew one another – the nightmare scenario for both Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. The fact that the first leg follows the exact same fixture in the league, and the quarter-final second leg follows local derbies for both teams makes life even more complicated.
From Manchester City’s point of view, nothing expressed their fear and loathing of the draw more than Director of Football Txiki Begiristain’s reaction. His face was a picture as the balls were drawn and a Merseyside test was revealed. His face dropped and he looked downcast at the very prospect.
Txiki not happy with the draw 😎 pic.twitter.com/uStrsE1ZnT
— LFCTS (@LFCTS) March 16, 2018
As for Liverpool, we suspect their reaction was similar. Perhaps something like this…
Only one thing to summarise the Liverpool reaction to that comeback… https://t.co/CNxxYWaeMh
— Darren Williams (@byDarren) March 5, 2018
