Real Madrid and Liverpool, an early final in the round of 16

Early final in the round of 16 of the Champions League. Real Madrid and Liverpool, the last two finalists in the competition, will face each other again in the first qualifying round of this edition. The draw held in Nyon with former Madrid player Hamit Altintop as the innocent hand has brought about an all-or-nothing crossover with many pending accounts and a classic flavor between two clubs that have accumulated up to twenty trophies to their credit.

Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool invites caution despite the fact that it is going through a delicate moment in the Premier League, where it is currently eighth, fifteen points behind the leader Arsenal, with no options to fight for the title and with the Champions zone seven points away. In the Champions League he added fifteen of the 18 possible points in his group, but the landslide conceded in Naples on the first day ended up condemning him to second place, which now leads him to face Madrid, an old acquaintance with whom he accumulates negative experiences in recent years.

And it is that in addition to the finals lost this year in Paris and in 2018 in kyiv, the quarterfinal tie of the 2020-21 season is added, resolved in favor of the Spanish team after 3-1 at the Alfredo Di Stéfano and the goalless draw at Anfield. Previously, in the 2014-15 season, the Whites and the ‘Reds’ met in the group stage, with a double Merengue victory by 0-3 at Anfield and 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu.

These last positive precedents for Madrid have tipped the balance of this particular rivalry towards the Spanish side, after that infamous Madrid tie in the round of 16 of the 2008-09 Champions League, when Liverpool stormed Chamartín (0-1) to then inflicting on Madrid one of the most painful defeats in its rich history in Europe (4-0). Long before, in 1981, both contenders starred in the first of their three finals. Also in Paris, although not in Saint-Denis but in the Parc des Princes, the ‘Madrid de los García’ was overcome with a late goal from the ‘red’ defender Alan Kennedy.

It will not be the only anticipated final of an exciting round of 16 tie. Two of the giants of the Old Continent today, like Messi, Mabappé and Neymar’s Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, capable of getting a full number of points in a group with Inter Milan and Barça, will meet the faces with the first leg at the Parc des Princes and the resolution of the duel at the Allianz Arena in Munich, thus repeating the Lisbon final twice in 2020.

In the rest of the matchups, Guardiola and Haaland’s Manchester City start as the great favorite against Leipzig, as does the surprising Benfica who have not yet known defeat this season against Bruges, a priori the team with the lowest level in the round of 16. Napoli sweeping Italy, Chelsea and Inter also appear to be a step ahead of Eintracht Frankfurt, Borussia Dortmund and Porto, with Milan and Tottenham the most balanced tie on paper.