Liverpool’s Champions League dream lives on after they dismantled Galatasaray at Anfield on Wednesday night to advance to the quarter-finals.
A daunting task awaits the Reds in the next round, though, as they come face-to-face with holders Paris Saint-Germain – who of course eliminated Arne Slot’s side from the tournament last season – during a formidable April fixture list.
Football fans wishing to place a wager on the outcome of that tie can do so with Angliabet as they begin to look towards which two teams could make it through to the final in Budapest on 30 May.
Will Liverpool be involved at the Puskas Arena in just over two months’ time? Let’s look at their pathway to a potential fourth Champions League final in nine years.
Challenges don’t come much bigger than PSG in the quarter-finals, and Luis Enrique’s side showed just how ruthless they can be in their 8-2 aggregate demolition of Chelsea in the round of 16.
In Ousmane Dembele, Bradley Barcola, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Desire Doue and Goncalo Ramos, they have an abundance of attacking talent capable of putting any opposition to the sword.
Put simply, Liverpool can’t afford the kind of defensive negligence which has let them down at crucial times this season when they face the reigning European champions on 8 and 14 April.
Should the Reds progress past PSG, they’ll face another heavyweight in the semi-finals, where either Bayern Munich or Real Madrid lay in store.
Los Blancos have caused the Merseysiders regular pain in the Champions League over the past decade (although they have lost at Anfield twice in the last 18 months), while the Bundesliga giants mercilessly put 10 goals past Atalanta in their round-of-16 tie.
Either opponent would see an ex-Liverpool player returning to their former stomping ground – will it be Trent Alexander-Arnold or Luis Diaz?
If the Reds can slay two European giants and make it all the way to the final, they’ll come up against one of Arsenal, Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon or Atletico Madrid.
The former two would appear to be the strongest candidates to make it to Budapest, although the others showed with big wins over Bodo/Glimt and Tottenham Hotspur in the round of 16 that they’re not to be taken lightly.
Obviously it’d be unwise for Liverpool to look too far ahead when they face such a daunting challenge in PSG next month, but any team who makes it to the last eight of the Champions League will understandably cast an eye towards a potential shot at immortality.
If the Reds can dethrone the current holders, that’d represent a huge statement of intent in pursuit of their seventh European Cup.
