Madrid avoided the big coconuts in the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals and will face Liverpool, a team that has become less in recent months and far from the one that won the Premier last year and the Champions League two ago. Even so, it is a historical of European football and retains its best recent players, including their attack Salah, Firmino and Mané who have given Klopp such a good performance.
In addition, Madrid knows that if they pass this round they will face the winner of Porto-Chelsea in the semifinals, as the next phase was also drawn. The rest of the quarterfinal pairings are Manchester City-Borussia Dortmund and Bayern-PSG, a reissue of the last final played last year in Lisbon.
Liverpool and Real Madrid are two colossi of European football. The 'reds' have six European Cups, for 13 of the whites, and the last of them was raised only two seasons ago at Wanda. That team has not varied excessively with respect to this one, but the injuries have decimated it considerably. Van Dijk's long-term absence did a lot of damage to the heart of the defense, as did Joe Gomez's. Klopp had to reconvert Fabinho, remove young people from the subsidiary and sign Kabak. The experiment has not been successful.
An important determining factor for Madrid is that they still do not know if they will be able to play at Valdebebas at home. The sanitary restrictions with the British countries can mean that, as in the case of Atlético against Chelsea in the second round, the first leg is outside of Spanish territory. March 30 is the deadline for the government to review the restrictions that are currently in force.
Pressure for both
With Klopp's team sixth in the Premier and Madrid third in the League, his true pretensions this season are to win the Champions League. Liverpool have been especially vulnerable at Anfield, where the return leg will be played, And after a winning streak of 63 consecutive games, he has a six losing streak.
These two teams have previously met six times in Europe, with three victories for Liverpool and three for Madrid. The last, yes, is a very pleasant memory for Madrid because it was in the final in Kiev in which the whites won the last Champions of their showcases in 2018.
Calendar
Real Madrid will play the first leg against Liverpool on April 6, that same day City-Dortmund will be played. The next day, April 7, it will be the turn of Porto-Chelsea and Bayern-PSG. The return for the white team will be on April 14, The second duel between City and Dortmund is also scheduled for that day. The day before, on April 13, the other two quarterfinal matches will be played. For their part, the semifinals are scheduled for April 27 and 28, the first leg, and on May 4 and 5, the return. The grand final will be played at Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium on May 29.
The quarterfinal pairings (and semi-final crossovers) are:
Real Madrid-Liverpool and Porto-Chelsea
Manchester City-Borussia Dortmund and Bayern-PSG