Man City have chance to establish new guard after Champions League draw

Six sides drew sighs of relief. Liverpool were not so lucky.

Jurgen Klopp’s troops are in the vanguard of the traditional outfits that dominate the last-eight line-up. Luckily for the perennial powerhouses, they also represent the best antidote to the Blue rebellion threatening to envelop England and beyond.

City have little continental pedigree to speak of, especially when contrasted to their five-time-champion opponents from the other end of the M62 motorway. Their 1969/70 success in the defunct European Cup Winners’ Cup does not reverberate down the ages.

This past success also bears no comparison to unstoppable Bayern Munich’s, or fellow domestic behemoths winners Juventus who so impressively and redoubtably dealt with Tottenham Hotspur in the previous round.

But Guardiola’s Etihad revolution causes even giants to shrink.

This is the influence of a 16-point lead in the Premier League and the conjuring of football so majestic it could have been choreographed at Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

Standing in their way are the only challengers to slay them in the top flight during 2017/18.

There is also an innate confidence imbued by Jurgen Klopp. His six career triumphs – including a penalty shootout win for Borussia Dortmund against Bayern in the 2015 DFB Pokal’s semi-finals – against Guardiola represents the most wins of any manager against him.

Even painful memories of the 5-0 thumping delivered in Manchester earlier this season can be negated by the fact the Reds had been game prior to Sadio Mane’s controversial red card.

Klopp’s Kryptonite could yet stop City’s super men from flying.

Old Lady can still cut it

In contrast, Juve against Madrid is a rivalry that echoes down the ages. There is also an immediacy provided by last June’s 4-1 thumping by the latter of the former when the sides met in a one-sided final.

The Italians will hope the addition of Brazil flyer Douglas Costa and rapid development of Argentina forward Paulo Dybala – the match-winner in their last three games in all competitions – adds a new edge.

For Madrid, a third-consecutive triumph will be some recompense for the rapid descent in La Liga witnessed this term. Their head coach Zinedine Zidane represented both clubs with distinction as a player and he will hope this knowledge can set him on the way to salvation.

Plus, in Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo they possess someone who comes alive when the Champions League anthem is played. He scored twice in Cardiff when they last met and has 12 goals in the current edition – notching in each match.

Eternal rivals Barca appear to have a more mundane task of dispatching Roma.

Messi magic is required

The Catalans played ‘rope-a-dope’ with an impressive Chelsea in the round of 16, before awaiting the inevitable knockout blows from Messi.

We await to see if more-clinical sides put them to bed. It is unlikely that Serie A’s current third-place team, for all the brilliance of Brazil No1 Alisson and evergreen Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko, will provide that defining test.

Coming up along the outside are Bayern.  Unlike Jose Mourinho’s miserly Manchester United, the proposition of facing inconsistent Sevilla will cause no panic – or backwards tactics.

The autumnal return of Jupp Heynckes, a veteran who engineered 2012/13’s treble, has transformed them from also-rans.

Statements will be made in the next month about whether City are the team to beat, or just an anomaly.

But the epoch-defining Spaniard who guides them, and Abu Dhabi’s City Football Group who bought them, do not care for past glories.

As a potentially unparalleled march to the Premier League title shows, they are emphatically crafting their own history.

Europe has been warned.