Liverpool face an enormous hurdle at the Santiago Bernabeu this evening in the second leg of their round-of-16 Champions League clash with Real Madrid.
Defeated 5-2 at Anfield in the first leg on February 21, the Reds will have to produce a Herculean fightback in order to punch their ticket through to the quarter-finals of a competition where they were runners-up in last season.
For Liverpool, the importance of their success in European football’s elite knockout club competition is well documented and their struggles domestically in the Premier League this season have cast some doubt on whether or not they will be able to count on Champions League money next season, with a top-four spot by no means assured given the patchy form that has dogged them throughout 2022/23.
