Liverpool’s potential Champions League Last 16 opponents ranked

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Here are our thoughts on Liverpool’s potential Champions League Last 16 opponents. The Reds can get four possible sides in Monday’s draw.

Liverpool’s 4-1 defeat at Napoli on Matchday one essentially ruined their chances of topping their Champions League group. The Reds gave it a great go but fell just short of overhauling the Italians in their final game.

So with that, Liverpool finish second and must face a group winner in the Last 16. The fact they can’t play English sides – or Napoli, of course – actually limits their possible opponents to just four.

One of Europe’s heavyweights, Paris Saint-Germain, failed to top their group, too. Juventus and Barcelona both failed to qualify. Thus it’s not the worst selection of four teams, either.

Let’s have a look at who we’d want then – in descending order of preference.

Liverpool’s potential Champions League Last 16 opponents

1. Bayern Munich

It’s tough to split the top two here but we’ll go with Bayern Munich as the side Liverpool likely want to avoid on Monday. The Bavarians won every single group game, after all.

And it’s not like Bayern had an easy group, either. They won all six games which included two against Barcelona and two against Inter. Conceding just two goals and scoring 18 is quite incredible.

To top it all off, we’d just rather not face Sadio Mané.

2. Real Madrid

Real beat Liverpool in the Champions League final last season, of course. We’ll save the revenge talk, though, as it didn’t work out last time.

On league form, Real are actually the team to avoid. 12 games, 10 wins, two draws. It’s a formidable record from a team that doesn’t have any obvious weaknesses.

But their Champions League form wasn’t perfect, despite a relatively routine group. Real lost away to RB Leipzig and drew at Shakhtar Donestk – both surprise results. While we don’t exactly want to face them, they do seem a little less consistent than Bayern.

3. Benfica

Benfica topped a group featuring both PSG and Juventus. They’ve won 10 of their 11 Primeira Liga games, too, drawing the other. They are, along with PSG, one of two undefeated teams across Europe’s top 10 leagues.

In other words, losing Darwin Nunez hasn’t exactly seen Benfica collapse. They’re a fantastic team who can seemingly get a result off of anyone.

Liverpool would undoubtedly fancy their chances of beating them, certainly more than Bayern or Real. This would be a tough draw, though, and possibly a bigger test than last year’s tie.

4. FC Porto

There’s no question that Porto are the team Liverpool want to get here. The two Portuguese sides have the weaker squads of the four and Porto are simply not matching Benfica’s form.

Their group was significantly weaker than everyone else’s, too, as Atletico Madrid collapsed in the Champions League. While it would test Liverpool, Porto are the team to get.