Pool keep matching strides with the giants

It wasn’t as exhilarating as many of this season’s remarkable last 16 ties and it certainly didn’t have the quality of football that’s been on show over the last fortnight; but Liverpool’s wonderful victory in Munich, inspired by two-goal Sadio Mane, has nevertheless put down a marker that is hugely significant.

Their 3-1 triumph at a ground where so few teams have enjoyed success will go down in the pantheon of Liverpool’s great away European wins and means there will be four Premier League teams in the last eight when the quarter-final draw is staged on Friday. It was all the more remarkable when you consider Jurgen Klopp’s side had lost their last four European away ties, including every one of their group stage fixtures away from Anfield, and struggled to find fluency in what was a bitty and tense game full of poor passing and no real rhythm.