Owen Hargreaves believes Liverpool are the favourites to win the Champions League, just ahead of Premier League rivals Manchester City and Spanish giants Barcelona. Both Liverpool and City were handed testing draws in the last-16, with both heading to the Spanish capital to take on Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid respectively.
But former Manchester United and Man City midfielder Hargreaves thinks the Premier League big boys were the teams to avoid along with Barcelona, who will meet Napoli. ‘I think before everybody wanted to avoid Barcelona and Real Madrid, I think now everybody wants to avoid Liverpool,’ he told BT Sport.
‘This team has virtually every style of play necessary and for me they’re the heavy favourites in this competition. ‘I think maybe Barca and Manchester City are just in behind.’ Analysing the draw, Hargreaves backed City to take out Real Madrid.
‘It’s probably one of the worst teams they could have faced, let’s be honest,’ Hargreaves added. ‘Real Madrid, as everyone knows, is a tough draw. I think City for me they’re the favourite team. ‘Real Madrid with the issues that they have, Man City is an awful draw for them as well. ‘You’d like to get one of the smaller ones and essentially they got the biggest team in it.
Former Arsenal striker John Hartson added: ‘Real Madrid they’re sharing top of the league with Barcelona in La Liga so they’re feeling pretty decent with how they’re playing at the minute. ‘They’re Real Madrid, they shouldn’t fear anybody, should they? ‘Man City at this level there’s no easy games. You’re looking at the best 16 teams in Europe.
