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Liverpool v Manchester City: An all-English clash

8 months ago  Raphael   Sport News

England's Premier League is guaranteed to have one representative in the Champions League semi-final after Liverpool and Manchester City were pitted together.

It promises to be a tantalising affair. Guardiola v Klopp. Salah v Aguero. Mane v De Bruyne. There are many intriguing duels.

The first leg is at Anfield on April 4, with the return game taking place in Manchester the following Tuesday.

Since 2010/11, there has been no all-Premier League tie at this stage when Chelsea faced Manchester United.

City have been unstoppable in the Premier League and are runaway leaders with 21 points more than the Reds, who are fourth but also the only team to beat the champions elect this season in the league.

That 4-3 defeat at Anfield is the Citizens' only Premier League defeat and Liverpool are certainly the club with more experience at this stage of the competition, having won it five times before.

By contrast, City have only gotten past the last 16 phase once before, doing so under Manuel Pellegrini in 2016 but are now out for more.

Liverpool's greatest weapons this season is their all star attack which includes Mohamed Salah (32 goals in all competitions), Sadio Mane (14) and Roberto Firmino (22), who have helped them become the Champions League's top scorers with 28 goals.

The Egyptian winger has been one of the players of the season in Europe and is the spearhead of their attack.

In the last 16, they hit five without reply away to Porto and although they aren't the most reliable team defensively, they are yet to lose in this season's Champions League.

They have improved in that regard since their 85 million euros signing of Virgil van Dijk and are a team who rely on their pressing, energy and running game.

Although they did inflict a defeat on City on home turf this season, it should also be noted that the Reds were thrashed 5-0 in their meeting at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season.

Pep Guardiola, after last season's fiasco in crashing out of the competition at the round of 16 stage against Monaco, has been doubly focused on success in it this time around.

Aguero (30 goals) is their reference point in attack, which also includes Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane, Raheem Sterling and David Silva, who have all registered impressive goals and assist statistics.

They have a League Cup in the bag and the Premier League is soon set to follow and the Champions League is their obsession after spending 529 million euros in two seasons to reinforce in many areas.

The likes of Aymeric Laporte, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Ederson were all recruited to specifically shore things up defensively.

After an almost perfect group stage, with five wins and one defeat, they eased through in the last 16, despite a second leg home defeat against Basel.

Klopp does have the recipe to stop Guardiola as between Germany and England, they have faced off 12 times, with five wins for Pep, six for the former Dortmund boss and a draw.

'The Normal One' won two German Super Cups in 2013 and 2014 against the Catalan coach, with the duel set to now spill over into the Champions League.



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