Liverpool and Man City face familiar foes on European return

After defeats for both Chelsea and Tottenham in the first legs of their Champions League last-16 ties, Liverpool and Manchester City are in action this week looking to do better.

Manchester United are in Europa League action too, their finely-poised play-off round clash with Barcelona heading for the second leg at Old Trafford.

Here, Football Mad looks at the form of the English teams’ opponents.

Real Madrid

The record 14-time European champions prepared for a trip to Anfield with a 2-0 win at Osasuna on Saturday but are still eight points adrift of fierce rivals Barcelona in the race for the LaLiga title. They recently lifted the Club World Cup and topped their Champions League group with four wins from six. Carlo Ancelotti’s side also have history with Liverpool, beating the Reds in the final to win their past two Champions League titles – including last year in Paris.

RB Leipzig

Despite sitting fifth in the Bundesliga, Marco Rose’s men are just four points off Bayern Munich at the summit and were impressive 3-0 winners away at Wolfsburg last time out. They beat Madrid at home in the group stages to help see them through to a tough test against Manchester City, having faced Pep Guardiola’s side in last season’s Champions League, winning 2-1 at home before a 6-3 reverse at the Etihad Stadium.

Barcelona

A 2-0 home win over Cadiz on Sunday means Barcelona have won nine of their last 10 games in all competitions, the one blip coming in the 2-2 draw in the first leg of their Europa League clash with Manchester United last week. They head to Old Trafford needing to see off an in-form United but will be buoyed by their own record against the Red Devils, which has seen them lose just one meeting since 1994.