CITY’S DOMESTIC RIVALS ARE STRIVING TO TRY AND MATCH THEM IN EUROPE Mo and Co can fire Reds to Euro glory, says Lovren
PREMIER LEAGUE clubs are resurgent in Europe and looking stronger than they have for several years. There is a real chance that one of them could win the Champions League this season.
What really struck me this week was how no one seemed able to get the ball off them. Even away from home, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City were dominant in possession.
Liverpool had 55 per cent of the ball in Porto, Tottenham 67 per cent at Juventus and City almost three-quarters of possession in Basle.
The fact that Liverpool, who are 18 points behind City in the league, were able to win so comfortably away from home will be worrying for the rest of Europe.
It is not just City who are capable of blowing teams away. Pep Guardiola’s side may be running away with the Premier League but, rather than floundering, their rivals are constantly striving for excellence to try to catch them.
Almost every week there is a head-to-head between teams battling to get into the top four and that has raised standards. Porto, Basle and Juventus were given a taste of the quality the Premier League possesses.
Tottenham’s performance in Turin was just as impressive. They showed immense character to battle back from two goals down at a ground where teams have found it almost impossible to score.
Spurs moved the ball incredibly quickly. They looked to punish Juventus with every pass and the Italian side were ponderous and slow in comparison.
If this match had been in pre-season, I would have said they looked a month behind in terms of sharpness. On that showing, if Juventus were a Premier League side they would struggle to get into the top six.
There is a correlation between wealth and quality. Many clubs in Europe will be fearing the spending power in the Premier League.
At £777million, Manchester City now have the most expensively assembled squad in football but even Brighton and Huddersfield appear in the world’s top 50.
What may prevent an English club from winning the Champions League this season is the Premier League taking too much out of the players when it matters most.
City could find themselves having to play FA Cup and Champions League semi-finals in quick succession, while Tottenham are also still in the Cup and fighting for a top-four spot. It may work in Liverpool’s favour that the FA Cup is no longer a distraction.
Some of the pressure has been taken off City and Liverpool with their huge first-leg victories, so they can afford to rest stars for the return ties.
Manchester United and Chelsea need strong performances in the Champions League next week to lift their seasons but will have been encouraged by the emphatic displays of their domestic rivals. DEJAN LOVREN has boldly stated Liverpool’s ambition to win a sixth European Cup after a performance to make their rivals sit up and take notice. Jurgen Klopp’s side are effectively in the Champions League quarter-finals after pummelling Porto 5-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie and they will hope the victory is an omen, as their Cup wins in 1978 and 1984 came after they had eliminated Portuguese opposition. Liverpool’s hopes of going all the way to Kiev on May 26, however, are based around far more than quirks as Lovren believes their forward line of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane are as good as any attack that remains in the competition. Salah remains the headline act and his worth to the squad was reinforced yesterday when Monchi, AS Roma’s sporting director, admitted Liverpool had bought the Egyptian cheaply at £39million. He will not make the same mistake in the summer should they return to buy Roma goalkeeper Alisson. ‘I think the price could have been better,’ Monchi said. ‘But at that moment, we had to sell.’ So far that trio have plundered 21 of Liverpool’s 34 goals since beginning their European campaign with a qualifier against Hoffenheim last August and their form has been so good that Lovren says they have given the squad the capacity to dare to dream. ‘Why can’t we?’ asked the Croatia defender. ‘It was brilliant. It was serious football and we showed we can manage the game from the first until the last minute and this is what we need through the whole season. ‘I think we have learned from our mistakes. We have so much quality so we can beat everyone if we are on our top level — as simple as that.’ Mane, who has headed to Marbella with the rest of the squad for a warm-weather training camp, was delighted after hitting his first Liverpool hat-trick following a spell of poor form. ‘It was tough on me but it is part of football and can happen,’ said Mane. ‘I never stopped working hard every day in training. We have more important games to come in the next couple of weeks so we will be ready.’