Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole both agree that Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Bayern Munich are the four teams to beat in the Champions League.
There are eight teams left in the competition after Chelsea's 2-1 win against Lille (4-1 on aggregate) with the draw for the quarter-finals set to be made. Liverpool and City are the clear favourites to go all the way, but reigning champions Chelsea are still in the hunt to defend their crown, while Bayern and Real Madrid have plenty of experience as previous winners in recent times.
Atletico Madrid, Villarreal and Benfica are considered outsiders, but at this stage, a case could be made for any team to win it all. Ferdinand and Cole reckon Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola's men are top of the tree with Chelsea and Bayern not far behind them, however.
On the prospect of Chelsea defending their crown, Ferdinand said on BT Sport: "I’ve got them as fourth favourites. Even if they play Liverpool or City, on their given day, they could beat them. They’ll be in the mix and the punch up, definitely. I’d go Man City, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Atletico, Real Madrid, Villarreal and Benfica."
Cole then weighed in: "Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool and Bayern Munich are the teams I think can win the trophy, realistically. I’d probably put Chelsea third or fourth. I think Man City and Liverpool are outstanding at the moment, and cup competitions are about the moment, the form they’re in. All of those teams would want Villarreal, Benfica, Atletico, even Real Madrid I don’t think can win it."
Ferdinand reckons an ideal scenario for Chelsea would be if Liverpool and City were drawn together as it would give them an easier path to the final. Cole echoed those sentiments and reckons Benfica would be the best draw for his former side.
The former Man United defender added: "I'd go Liverpool vs Man City. I think there’s a league game between that and there would be three games in the space of a week. It would suit Chelsea too!"
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"Chelsea v Benfica would be the nice one, I think we could dispatch them quite nicely. But, this is the Champions League, this is where it starts," Cole said.
Tuchel has no particular preference for the opposition, who will be playing at Stamford Bridge behind closed doors most likely due to Roman Abramovich's sanctions. Instead of worrying about who Chelsea will get, he wants teams to fear coming up against them.
"I want us to be the team nobody wants to play. This is the role we see ourselves in this round of eight. It's a big step to do it again, again, and again. We fight for the top four places in the toughest league maybe in the world right now and we fight in the last eight again [in the Champions League].
So this brings out the best in us and we want to be the team nobody wants to play against. So let's see what happens."
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