• Draw: Madrid would avoid Manchester City, PSG and Bayern until the final

Just a few months ago, a match against Liverpool in the quarterfinals of the Champions League would have taken Real Madrid's breath away.

Well, Real Madrid and any other team on the continent.

Now, on the other hand, the reaction to the draw was of mere conformity.

It is not Porto, but neither is it Manchester City or Bayern

, the great rivals to avoid, whom Zidane's team would not face until a hypothetical final, as it happens with PSG.

Sixth in the Premier, 22 points behind City, no longer intimidating as before.

But it is still Liverpool.

A wounded beast, but a beast nonetheless.

It is still the team of

Salah, Mané, Firmino, Fabinho, Alexander-Arnold

, now also of Thiago, Diogo Jota ... And that of Jürgen Klopp, who tries to rebuild on the fly the huge gap that has been opened in his liner with long-term injuries to its three centrals: Van Dijk, Gomez and Matip.

That is the key to a particularly marked slump in the past two months, with six consecutive defeats at Anfield, a club record.

Streak that did not affect him in the Champions League, where he resolved his tie against Leipzig 4-0.

The absence of his natural center-backs led Klopp to relocate Fabinho and Henderson to the rear, fundamental men in the midfield for his fast-transition football.

The problem was that he undressed one saint to try to dress another.

The defense lost strength - it was going to do it yes or yes - and the midfield stopped working, because

Wijnaldum loses strength as a midfielder

and Thiago - also affected by injuries - has not finished adapting to a very different context from the one he dominated at Bayern.

In attack, Salah (25 goals) has continued at a very high level, but Firmino (6) and Mané (12) have significantly lowered their performance.

Homegrown players in defense

To stop the disaster, Klopp has ended up opting to return Fabinho to his natural position and entrust the center of the rear to Kabak - granted by Schalke in January - and

Williams or Phillips

, two homegrown players.

Although the sample is still small, the improvement has been evident: two wins in two games.

The question now is whether Liverpool will continue its growth and, above all, if it will have time to reach fourth place in the Premier, from which it is separated by five points.

If he does not succeed, winning this Champions League would be his only way to repeat participation next year, an economic necessity for a club the size of Liverpool.

The first leg will be played on Tuesday, April 6 in Valdebebas, at the expense of sanitary restrictions not forcing their transfer to another country, as happened to Atlético against Chelsea.

The return,

on Wednesday 14 at Anfield

, with the same asterisk.

If Madrid managed to eliminate the current winner of the Premier, they would meet in the semifinals with the winner of Porto-Chelsea.

The big coconuts will go to the other side of the table, in which Bayern and PSG will reissue the last Champions League final and City will face Haaland and their Dortmund.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

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  • Madrid

  • Iran National Soccer Team

  • Jurgen Klopp

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