FOOTBALL 81
The draw for the rounds of Big Cup that don’t involve Paris Saint-Germain was made on Friday morning. At first glance, the runes read nicely for Liverpool, who face Benfica in the quarters, then possibly Bayern Munich in the semis and Real Madrid in the Stade de France showpiece. Could this be some sort of omen? Liverpool won the League Cup in 1981, you see, then went on to beat Bayern in the Big Cup semis and Madrid in the final … which, yes, you’ve got there before us, was held in Paris. Something something Coronation Street and royal family blah, and there you have it. Eerie or what?