Draw is as good as English football could have hoped for
You may be aware I was at Cheltenham for most of last week.
So here’s a top tip – there will definitely be an English team in the semi- finals of the Champions League!
But had Manchester City and Liverpool not been drawn against each other, there’s every chance there could have been none.
The way Tottenham and Chelsea crumbled against top opposition hints at why.
Manchester Un i t e d crashed out to Sevilla – only the fifth-best team in Spain, remember – so the Premier League could have been left with no semi-final representatives had its two survivors been kept apart.
At least it set the scene for Jose Mourinho’s fantastic 12-minute rant on Friday!
Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus are all sides with serious Champions League pedigree in recent seasons.
And when Roma and Sevilla are seen as the soft touches, that shows you just how strong the competition is.
Realistically, any one of the first group could have got the better of City or Liverpool.
You’d also have to say the second pair, on their day, could do some damage too.
This way, at least, England will be represented in the competition’s last four.
And given the excitement the tie will spark, it was as good a draw as anyone could have hoped for.