Manchester City were one of the big winners in a Champions League last 16 stage full of shocks, and will now plot their route to the final.
City had their last-16 tie with Sporting won in the first half of the first leg, taking a 4-0 lead in Lisbon. When it was five after an hour, the remaining 120 minutes of the tie were purely academic. Only Bayern Munich recorded a bigger aggregate victory, but they had been held 1-1 with RB Salzburg after the first leg.
While City and Bayern progressed with ease, other big names crashed out as Paris Saint-Germain threw away a 2-0 lead over Real Madrid and Juventus collapsed against Villarreal.
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With no restrictions over who City could draw, there is an equal chance that the Blues could face Liverpool over two legs as much as a more favourable draw against Benfica. With the crucial Premier League showdown against Liverpool falling in between the two legs of the quarter final.
We've looked at the seven other quarter finalists and ranked them from best to worst in terms of who City would prefer to face.
1. Benfica
City's last-16 trip to Portugal didn't go too badly, and Benfica sit below Sporting in the Portuguese league. Nicolas Otamendi's side recorded an impressive win at Ajax after a 2-2 home draw, but City would be a significant step up for Benfica.
Every other side will be hoping to draw them, or Villarreal, and City in particular would be happy to wait for one of the big guns considering the importance of the Liverpool fixture in the Premier League.
2. Villarreal
The second of the favourable draws, Villarreal wouldn't scare City too much — although they raised eyebrows with a 3-0 win at Juventus on Wednesday after a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home. After winning the Europa League last season, Unai Emery's men know how to win in Europe and would give City a stern test.
Saying that, the Blues shouldn't fear the seventh-best team in Spain. Plus, if Manchester United can beat them twice in the group stage, City will certainly be favourites if they draw the Spaniards.
3. Chelsea
Given Chelsea's off-field issues, they are arguably a less-feared opponent than they may have been a few weeks ago. Their quality cannot be denied, as City learned in the final last season, but the Blues have since beaten Thomas Tuchel's side twice in the Premier League.
With no fans expected at Stamford Bridge for the quarter finals, the various restrictions against them will only make their chances of retaining the Champions League much more difficult. A cap on travel for the away leg would also disrupt Chelsea's usual preparations, so it could be a good time to get more revenge for last year's final defeat.
4. Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone engineered a masterclass in game-management at Old Trafford to reach this stage, but Atletico were helped by a timid United side who seemed to accept they would be knocked out as soon as they fell behind in the second leg.
Saying that, Atletico were wasteful in Madrid to give United a 1-1 draw, and hardly offered much of a threat in the second leg. City would be confident of taking the game to Simeone's side if they were given a second successive trip to Manchester, and they have more mental strength to react if they fell behind.
5. Real Madrid
There's a two-in-seven chance of heading to Madrid in the draw, with Real offering a similar amount of jeopardy as Atletico, but in a different style. PSG were cruising until Karim Benzema's brilliant hat-trick at the Bernabeu sent them through.
However ageing Real's attack is, there is still plenty of pace and quality that is more than capable of hurting City. The Blues would be confident of repeating their fine last-16 win from 2020, but it would be far from straightforward.
6. Bayern Munich
City and Bayern have had plenty to say about each other off the pitch in recent years, but haven't met on it since 2014.Pep Guardiola regularly hails his former side as one of the top two or three sides in Europe, so he would prefer not to be reunited in the quarter finals.
With a prolific centre-forward, pacey wingers, technical midfielders and versatile defenders, Bayern would test City all over the pitch and would require a huge effort to progress.
7. Liverpool
It's no surprise that City will want to avoid Liverpool at all costs — particularly as it would mean three meetings with their big rivals in the space of a week. That would require an enormous physical and mental output and there is no guarantee of victory in any of the three games.
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Liverpool are in form, experts in Europe, and they know how to beat City. To face them three times in a row would triple their threat, and City learned the hard way in 2018. Neutrals may relish a quarter final either side of the Premier League game, but you won't find many fans of either side genuinely looking forward to it.
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