Former Manchester United striker Michael Owen believes either Liverpool or Manchester City will win this season's Champions League.
Owen has made the admission ahead of the two clubs staging the second legs of their Champions League last-16 showdowns this week. Liverpool welcome Inter Milan to Anfield on Tuesday and City host Portuguese outfit Sporting Lisbon on Wednesday.
Both sides won their first-leg outings, coming out 2-0 and 5-0 winners respectively, meaning it would take two big comebacks to stop them from reaching the quarter-finals of the competition. Currently the top two sides in the Premier League, both clubs are being tipped to go all the way in Europe's premier club competition this season.
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City reached the final last season and were beaten 1-0 by Chelsea, whereas Liverpool reached the final in both 2018 and 2019, winning the competition at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur in the second of those back-to-back appearances. They have both been backed to go deep into this season's Champions League and are among the favourites to go all the way.
Owen believes either City or Liverpool will win the 2021/22 Champions League. Furthermore, he has ruled both Chelsea and Bayern Munich out of the running.
"I see the Champions League as Liverpool's or Manchester City's," Owen told the Liverpool ECHO. "You can make a case for someone like Chelsea or Bayern Munich, but I can't.
"City and Liverpool are the best two teams in the world by some stretch at the moment and I can't see any other team winning it. I can't believe that Liverpool, before they kicked off against Inter in the first leg, were third favourites.
"I've watched virtually all the Champions League this season, I have covered it for BT and I simply don't know how that can be. If they are not favourites, they should be second.
"You can make a case for Manchester City but Liverpool's pedigree over the years suggests that there is nothing between the two sides. Liverpool have had more success than Man City in Europe in recent years, so I would make the case that they are the favourites."
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