Europa League draw simulated as Liverpool face former European champions and potential meeting with future boss in final

LIVERPOOL may need to win a Champions League final repeat to reach the Europa League final, according to SunSport’s simulated draw.

Then the Reds could face their future boss in the final.

Ahead of Friday’s draw, we threw the eight ties into our simulator machine.

And it churned out a host of exciting, mouthwatering fixtures for the remainder of the tournament.

The standout tie for the quarter-finals saw Liverpool/Sparta Prague pitted against Rangers’ conquerors Benfica – the two-time European Cup winners.

Liverpool thumped Sparta Prague 5-1 in the first leg and raced into a 4-0 lead at Anfield inside 14 crazy minutes.

Rangers, however, suffered heartbreak as they could not capitalise on a 2-2 draw in Portugal, losing 1-0 at Ibrox.

Elsewhere in our simulated draw, the winner of that blockbuster quarter-final could end up facing another British club in Premier League rival West Ham.

The Hammers, who lost their first leg against Freiburg in Germany before winning 5-0 in East London, were pitted against AC Milan after the Italian giants stormed past Slavia Prague.

Should AC Milan get the better of West Ham to face Liverpool, that would see a repeat of the 2005 and 2007 Champions League finals.

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On the other side of the draw, Brighton face a seemingly impossible task to overcome their 4-0 deficit against Roma tonight.

Should Roberto De Zerbi mastermind a miracle, though, the Seagulls would face Marseille in the last eight after the French side beat Villarreal.

Completing that half of the draw is Sporting or Atalanta against Qarabag or Bayer Leverkusen.

With plenty of European big hitters still involved, Xabi Alonso will know he has his work cut out taking Bayer to the final in Dublin.

The dream of a Bundesliga-Europa League double is still on, drawing the first leg in Azerbaijan with Qarabag 2-2.

And should the German side make it to the Aviva Stadium on May 22, it could see Alonso go up against Klopp in the latter’s final match in charge of Liverpool.

Klopp is leaving the Reds at the end of the season – with ex-Liverpool midfielder Alonso among the favourites to replace him in the summer.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk