Champions League draw: Potential Liverpool vs Aston Villa tie set up as Arsenal face PSV
The Champions League draw set up a possible quarter-final tie between Liverpool and Aston Villa if they get past their Round of 16 opponents.
Liverpool were given the toughest las-16 draw on paper out of all the Premier League sides with Arne Slot’s leaders meeting French giants Paris Saint-Germain in the last-16.
Aston Villa were given a tie against Atalanta’s conquerers Club Brugge, while the Premier League’s second-placed side Arsenal were drawn against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
In other notable Champions League ties, Real Madrid face Atletico Madrid in a huge derby clash, while the two German sides left in the draw, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, will face each other.
Last-16 draw in full:
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa
Borussia Dortmund vs Lille
Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid
Bayern Munich vs Bayer Leverkusen
PSV Eindhoven vs Arsenal
Feyenoord vs Inter Milan
Paris Saint-Germain vs Liverpool
Benfica vs Barcelona
Quarter-final draw in full:
PSG or Liverpool vs Club Brugge or Aston Villa
PSV Eindhoven or Arsenal vs Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid
Benfica or Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund or Lille
Bayern Munich or Bayer Leverkusen vs Feyenoord or Inter Milan
Semi-final one will see the winners of PSV/Arsenal vs Real Madrid/Atletico Madrid facing the winners of Paris St-Germain/Liverpool vs Club Brugge/Aston Villa, while semi-final two will see the winners of Benfica/Barcelona vs Borussia Dortmund/Lille take on the winners of Bayern Munich/Bayer Leverkusen vs Feyenoord/Inter Milan.
Former Newcastle United and England striker Alan Shearer believes Real Madrid sent out a warning to the rest of Europe with their win over Manchester City in the Champions League play-off round and reckons they are “favourites” to win the competition.
Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast: “They’re looking very dangerous, Real Madrid, after having one or two poor results in the league games.
“Two performances against City, both home and away, which will send a huge warning out to the rest of Europe in terms of teams that are left in.
“They know it’s their competition, they know how well they do and they excel in it and they have to win it.”
When asked whether Real Madrid should be considered the favourites, Shearer replied: “Yeah, I would put them favourites, absolutely. Definitely.”
On Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappe all being on the same team, Shearer added: “It must be a dream, a treat, for those guys with the amount of chances that they create and the amount of ability that they’ve got.
“So Real Madrid are very, very strong and they are, without doubt, my favourites to win.”
Shearer continued: “The three or four of them are brilliant at rotation so if Vinicius Junior wants to come down the middle then Kylian will go out wide.
“They’re all equally as good wherever they are.
“Say what you want about the defending. The defending was blummin’ awful at times from Manchester City and you can’t give anyone the amount of space that they did.
“But to give it to him [Mbappe]… and the three goals were also so very, very different. Three great finishes but very different ones.”
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