Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes that Liverpool will win the Champions League this season, per BT Sport via The Daily Mirror.
What’s the word?
Liverpool lost the first leg of their Round of 16 tie against Atletico Madrid last week, going down 1-0 in Spain.
However, former United star Ferdinand believes that Jurgen Klopp’s men will turn the tie around and go on to again lift Europe’s premier club competition.
The Reds, of course, beat Tottenham Hotspur in last season’s final, and are in electric form in the Premier League, going unbeaten thus far and sitting 22 points clear of second-placed Manchester City.
Asked to pick the team most likely to win the competition after City’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid on Wednesday evening, Ferdinand said: “I can’t look no further than Liverpool, if I’m honest.
“I think they’ll go through against Atletico Madrid. I think it’s a tough game but I think Anfield gives it a different dimension.
“Bayern Munich looked great yesterday against a team who are searching for form and their own identity at the moment in Chelsea.
“So they may have peaked a bit early, who knows - going forward they are great but defensively I would be concerned a little bit about Bayern.
“But Liverpool are my standout favourites.”
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Have everything
Liverpool are pretty much complete.
Klopp has built a genuine winning machine on Merseyside and they are completely capable of again lifting the trophy.
To consider the entire starting XI, they have a world-class goalkeeper in Alisson Becker, the world’s most expensive centre-back in Virgil van Dijk, two brilliant full-backs in Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, a hard-running, dynamic midfield that includes the leadership of Jordan Henderson and the strength of Fabinho, while their attacking trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino is as good as any other attacking unit in world football.
Of course, they have to turn around a deficit against a brilliant defensive side in Atletico – Diego Simeone’s men restricted the Reds to zero shots on target in the first leg.
But they possess the talent to do that en route to back-to-back Champions League victories.