Carragher fumes at Champions League rules after Liverpool discover opponents

Liverpool secured their spot in the last-16 of the Champions League after rounding off their league stage with an impressive 6-0 win against Qarabag but Jamie Carragher has been left disgruntled

Jamie Carragher has hit out at the new Champions League format with Liverpool lined up to potentially take on either Atletico Madrid or Juventus in the next round. The Reds rounded off their league stage on Wednesday evening with an eye-catching 6-0 win against Qarabag.

That win saw Liverpool finish third and seal an automatic spot in the last-16. And Arne Slot’s side already know their potential opponents for the next round, with play-off sides Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge, Galatasaray or Juventus all possibilities should they progress.

But Carragher was far from happy with that draw. Talking on CBS, he said: “I’ve just find out who Liverpool’s potential opponents are. Honest to god, this new format, I’ve had enough of it.

“We finished top last year and we got Paris Saint-Germain. We finished third this year, listen to this: Atletico Madrid, Club Brugge, Galatasaray or Juventus and we finished third.”

READ MORE: Arne Slot angers Liverpool fans again with comments after Champions League qualificationREAD MORE: Liverpool discover four possible Champions League last 16 opponents after thrashing Qarabag

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Punditry colleague and former Manchester City star Micah Richards chimed in by saying: “But you’re the mighty Liverpool?”

Carragher then replied: “What I’m saying is, if you finish third, you can’t have them, you can’t have Atletico Madrid or Juventus in there. You know what, I bet you [Man City] have got like, I’ve never known a team so lucky with draws than Man City in my life. They get the FA Cup final every year because they play League 2 clubs.”

After being told that City could potentially play Bodo/Glimt, Benfica, Inter Milan or Real Madrid, Carragher started laughing before saying: “I’ll take that.” which caused Richards to call him a “Big baby!”

Who will win this year’s Champions League? Share your predictions in the comments below

Despite Carragher not being best pleased about Liverpool’s upcoming opponents, Reds boss Slot was just delighted to have seen his side avoid the playoffs.

Speaking after Wednesday’s win against Qarabag, he said: “It’s what you want if you start the Champions League season – you want to finish top eight. That helps, of course, because you skip a round and sometimes you can have a really hard team to play against in a round like that, which is shown by the teams you just mentioned.

“So, we are happy that we are going straight away to the last 16, especially because it’s only two years ago that we were playing Europa League and we went out in the quarter-finals against Atalanta.

“So, two seasons in a row now being in the last 16, and last season we were very hungry for more and we will definitely be hungry for more this season as well.”

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