“What is Champions League level?” Former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp once asked. “I saw a lot of rubbish games at Champions League level.”
The thrilling nature of this season’s quarterfinals may very well have met Klopp’s threshold for continental excellence. Bayern Munich and Real Madrid duked out two instant classics while Barcelona and Atlético Madrid had their own slugfest in Spain. Even Liverpool rallied to give Paris Saint-Germain some headaches on an atmospheric Anfield night. Arsenal and Sporting CP may have served up a spectacle that wasn’t exactly easy on the eye, but there was a tense tactical battle boiling beneath the surface.
