Champions League quarterfinal power rankings: Real, Bayern lead the way

7. Liverpool

Liverpool boast the pace, flair and intuition in attacking areas to overwhelm any team left in the competition. Few defenders will be able to stay with the speed of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah out wide, while Roberto Firmino has the vision to unlock the best defenses.

This terrific trio proved their worth by all getting on the scoresheet during the 5-0 demolition of Porto in the last 16. Their efforts are buoyed by the high-intensity, relentless pressing manager Jurgen Klopp has his players put into practice.

Those who try and go transition for transition with the Reds quickly find themselves overrun. It happened to Porto at the Estadio do Dragao back in February.

But will it happen again?

Teams a little more cute and cagey can beat the Liverpool press simply by ignoring it. Manchester United did so during the 2-1 win over their great rivals at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday.

United bypassed the press-crazed visitors with long balls over the top for centre-forward Romelu Lukaku to win. The more experienced hands in the Champions League will surely follow suit.

Then the question will be do Liverpool have enough guile in other areas to overcome the problem? Klopp’s men were obviously lacking in creativity in Manchester, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain struggling to replace Philippe Coutinho as the maestro in the middle.

Liverpool must prove there are more strings to their bow if they are going to reach the last four.