The Champions League Last 16 is decided – and Liverpool eagerly anticipates the trek for the knockout phase.
From 11 a.m. on Friday, the Reds will completely discover their potential route until the final of this season in the Allianz Arena in Munich. Liverpool finished at the top of the table after the first competition phase and won one of their eight games one after all of their eight games.
That earned them direct qualification for the last 16, with seven more teams that came to them in January. The other eight games were decided by an extra play-off round that was completed on Wednesday.
Fans of Liverpool are now trying to work out the best possible scenario for the draw – and the worst. They already know their first series of possible opponents, because one on the side of Arne Slot or Barcelona that ended second in the table was confronted with Paris Saint-Germain or Benfica.
PSG is considered the strongest of the couple, after they have aggregated colleague French side Brest 10-0 in their play-off collision. In the meantime, Portuguese giants Benfica survived a late fear against Monaco to continue.
Friday's draw will also confirm which side of the Liverpool draw will be placed, and that will determine the potential opponents of the Reds in advance for the quarterfinals, semi-final and final. If they would beat PSG or Benfica, there are four possible opponents for Slot's to be in the last eight.
Liverpool would play one of Lille, Aston Villa, Club Brugge or Borussia Dortmund. Given how Villa – managed by the European Specialist Unai Emery – Liverpool on Wednesday in the Premier League held in the Premier League and given that Dortmund reached last year's final, Reds fans would probably be more their chances for Lille of Play –off Winners resist Lille or Play -off winners Bruges.
However, those two were separated by a huge 17 places in the table, where Bruges only demolished through the play-offs with a low 24th finish. Lille, on the other hand, finished seventh, in particular the Holders defeated Real Madrid. They also narrowly lost 2-1 to Liverpool in Anfield in the competition phase, and that was with 10 men.
The semi -final would be a starrent test, such as Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Arsenal, Feyenoord, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven. Feyenoord, the former Club of Slot, finished the lowest in the competition phase and conquered AC Milan in the play-off.
Premier League rivals Arsenal were the best of the rest behind Liverpool and Barcelona. The Gunners finished third for Inter, Atletico and Leverkusen in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. If Liverpool will reach the final on Saturday 31 May, they can be confronted with one of those aforementioned parties and Barca.
There will be another draw after the last-16-piece game takes place to determine who is the first to play at home in the quarterfinals and semi-final.
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