By Andrew Warshaw
December 11 – While most of the big guns of Europe as expected qualified for the knockout phase of the Champions League, the draw for which is Monday, Liverpool were left to rue the price of failure.
Although they exited the competition with a useful €10.6 million (£8.4 million) in prize money after winning only one of their six games, it could have been more.
By failing to get past Basel, Liverpool missed out on a guaranteed €3.5 million from the last 16 stage. Clubs are also awarded €3.9 million for reaching the quarter-finals, €4.9 million for the semi-finals, €6.5 million for the final and a further €4.5 million for winning it outright.
Struggling in the Premier League after coming second last season mainly thanks to Luis Suarez’s goals, winning the Europa League, which they now drop down into, has suddenly become a major priority since it could now be Liverpool’s best hope of returning to Europe’s elite competition next season. The Europa League may be regarded as the poorer sister but for the first time it takes on extra significance since the winners are automatically handed a Champions League spot.
Liverpool’s loss is Manchester City’s gain. The Middle East-backed Premier League champions staged something of Houdini act as, without arguably their three most influential outfield players, they qualified for the knockout phase by winning in Rome to pip the Italians for second spot having dramatically beaten group winners Bayern Munich in their previous outing to somehow keep their hopes alive.
“People wrote us off without our key players (like Sergio Aguero, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany) but we’re a strong unit, we believed in what we could do,” City and England keeper Joe Hart told Sky. “You don’t win two Premier League titles in three years easily. We have resolve, character and fantastic players. Add that together and you’ve got a chance.”
As for Liverpool, even more questions are bound to be asked about the quality of the players they brought in with the reported €80 million received for Suarez – a similar mistake to that made by Tottenham Hotspur when they sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for a world record fee.
Liverpool can now only watch enviously when Monday’s mouth-watering draw takes place. In that draw are all four German clubs who entered the competition – Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke – another indication of the growing strength of the Bundesliga.
They will be joined by three Spanish clubs in holders Real Madrid, beaten finalists Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, the English trio of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, Juventus, Swiss champions Basel – who deservedly drew with Liverpool on Tuesday to edge them out – Monaco, Paris St-Germain, Porto and Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Europa League has certainly been strengthened in quality by those dropping down to have another bite at the cherry: Liverpool, Olympiakos, Zenit St Petersburg, Anderlecht, Roma, Ajax, Sporting Lisbon and Athletic Bilbao. Among those missing out completely are the biggest clubs in Portugal and Turkey, Benfica and Galatasaray.
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