A pairing to get the heart beating.
The guarantee of a Premier League side in the semi-finals, after two titanic matches which could well go down to the last shot of the tie.
And the prospect of a last four of European heavyweights that will bring a series of shuddering, juddering contests to captivate a continent.
Uefa – like Fifa – is always accused of putting “hot balls” into the draw.
Even though the conspiracy theorists are always the ones who claim their side have got the rough end of things.
But former Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko will take the credit for a quarter-final draw that will help ensure nobody will be switching off next month.
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Jurgen Klopp might have pretended he’d take anybody.
But in truth, the one team Liverpool REALLY didn’t want was the side based just 30-odd miles away.
‘RIGGED AF’ Twitter erupts after Champions League draw
And while Pep Guardiola has been beaten by Liverpool this season, the Manchester City boss will believe he has got the better end of things with the second leg at the Etihad.
So far this season, Liverpool and City have shared 12 goals in two matches.
And, in truth, things might have been different in the first game had Sadio Mane not – albeit rightly – seen red with only a single goal between the sides.
Martin Lipton's Predictions
Barcelona to beat Roma by a margin of 3 goals
Bayern to beat Sevilla by a margin of 2 goals
Real Madrid to beat Juventus by a margin of 1 goal
Man City to beat Liverpool by a margin of 2 goals
What is surely a certainty is two more goal-laden games, with Liverpool desperate for the Anfield factor to help them eke out enough of an advantage to survive their trip to Manchester the following week.
But in the rest of Europe, it will be the repeat of last season’s Cardiff Final that will take much of the attention.
Real Madrid looked like a team going nowhere before Christmas. Beaten by Spurs at Wembley, second in the group, under-dogs against PSG and Neymar.
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But all has now changed.
Cristiano Ronaldo is back in the groove, the French upstarts were put in their place by true European nobility.
And although the Old Lady has not lost her own sense of self-worth – as Tottenham discovered to their cost – Giorgio Chiellini and Co know that keeping CR7 quiet when he is on the money is a different prospect altogether.
In the other two ties, Barcelona will not be overly fussed by a second leg trip to the Stadio Olimpico, despite Roma’s attacking philosophy.
Indeed. Eusebio Di Francesco’s approach may look like an open door for Lionel Messi to walk through.
Champions League matches - LATEST ODDS
And Bayern Munich, seeking to give Jupp Heynckes his third walk-off Champions League win – as in 1998 with Real and 2013 at Bayern, he will leave the job at the end of the season – will back themselves against a Sevilla side that has never gone beyond the last eight in its history.
Over here, though, all eyes will be on a small corner of the north west. Anfield and the Etihad. The battle of the Prem giants, to take on the remaining European leviathans.
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