New Delhi: The Champions League will resume in just under a week, and this time it's do or die. It's the first knock-out stage, and of the four English clubs in the fray, three will be playing teams they are expected to beat.
Liverpool have not been lucky. They face defending champions Barcelona.
It's a match that has history written all over it, with two of Europe's greatest clubs in a fight to death. When Barcelona meets Liverpool in the first knock-out stage of the Champions League there will be no room for errors.
"It's going to be very hard to win. We can't make any mistakes and we have to concentrate or we'll be made to pay," Barcelona striker Javier Saviola says.
The good news for the Spanish giants is the return of their precocious Argentine forward Lionel Messi. And the 21-year-old has no doubts about Liverpool's merits.
"They're a great team with players like (Steven) Gerrard and (Luis) Garcia. They're a compact side who play great football and they are going to make life very hard for us," Messi says.
Another Argentine who has made a remarkable comeback for Barca, scoring at every opportunity he has got is the diminutive Javier Saviola. He, too, echoed his countryman's sentiments.
"Liverpool are going to be a very difficult side to play against because they have very good strikers. They're fast and good in the air. They're a very difficult side who'll not make the knock-out phase (of the Champions League) easy for us," Saviola says.
Barcelona may be the favourites to go through to the second round, but Liverpool will know that the last time they met the Spanish giants, they beat them on the way to winning the 2001 UEFA Cup.
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