Champions League greats Liverpool, Real Madrid collide

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

With 20 Champions League titles between them, Liverpool vs Real Madrid is a meeting of two European football greats.

Their round-of-16 match at Anfield today is also a repeat of last year's final in Paris, which saw Madrid win the competition for a record-extending 14th time after producing a series of improbable comebacks just to make it to the European showpiece at the Stade de France.

"I still shake my head and scratch my head," said former England coach and BT Sport analyst Glenn Hoddle. "I covered every one of those games and I still don't know how they won it. They were out."

Madrid secured come-from-behind wins against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City in each knockout round before beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

"They were like a boxer, they were up against the ropes and they were halfway down the ropes and you're thinking the ref's going to step in and stop the bout," Hoddle said. "I don't know what happened, they just kept going. And they had that quality."

Where the Champions League is concerned anything seems possible for Madrid, who won the trophy three years in a row from 2016-18 when Barcelona were dominating the Spanish title.

But if any team can rival Madrid's ability to produce the unexpected in European club football's most prized competition, it is Liverpool.

There was the famous comeback from 3-0 down against AC Milan in the 2005 final before going on to win on penalties. And more recently the 4-3 aggregate win against Barcelona in the semifinals in 2019 after losing 3-0 in the first leg at the Nou Camp.

Madrid, however, have felt like a step too far ever since the draw was made last November.

After all, this Liverpool face a fight just to qualify for next season's competition, let alone win it this year.

Jurgen Klopp has struggled to get Liverpool firing after the departure of key forward Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich last summer and a host of injuries.

Ahead of the first-leg match at Anfield, Klopp can at least be encouraged by a recent upturn in form after back-to-back wins against Everton and Newcastle in the Premier League and goals from misfiring forwards Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.

Suddenly Liverpool look in contention again for a Champions League-qualifying spot, sitting seven points off fourth-place Tottenham with two games in hand.

Then there is the Anfield factor, with an atmosphere that saw Barcelona wilt in that semifinals comeback and Manchester City repeatedly fall despite dominating English football in recent years.

Like Madrid's fans, the Liverpool crowd believes nothing is beyond them when it comes to Europe after winning the trophy six times.