Michael Owen has named the team he’d love to see Liverpool coming up against in what he described as a ‘dream’ Europa League final pairing.
The Reds are as good as into the quarter-finals of the tournament following their 5-1 win away to Sparta Prague in their round of 16 first leg clash on Thursday, and they remain many people’s favourites to win the competition.
However, there’s a good chance that they may need to do what no team has managed this season – beat Bayer Leverkusen, with Xabi Alonso’s runaway Bundesliga leaders also still involved in the Europa League.
The showpiece in Dublin on 22 May could be Jürgen Klopp’s last game as Liverpool manager (if we don’t get to the FA Cup final), and the narrative of him coming up against his potential successor would add extra intrigue if those two clubs were to be the last couple standing.
Speaking on TNT Sports on Thursday night, Owen declared: “The dream final has got to be Leverkusen and Liverpool, in Dublin, last game of Jürgen Klopp, maybe the next game will be Alonso at Liverpool as a replacement. That’s the dream.”
Assuming there’s no unwanted drama at Anfield next Thursday, Liverpool would still have two rounds to battle through before the final, and Leverkusen aren’t the only team who could pose a real danger to the Reds.
Roma and Marseille enjoyed emphatic wins last night, while AC Milan also carry huge prestige. In another potential Klopp v next LFC manager clash, Ruben Amorim‘s Sporting Lisbon can’t be discounted either, should they prevail against Atalanta in the round of 16.
A Liverpool v Leverkusen final in Dublin would be a brilliant occasion, but there’s plenty of work still to be done before we can start to get giddy about that prospect.
You can view Owen’s comments below, via @footballontnt on X (formerly Twitter):
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