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Louis van Gaal: 'Liverpool not candidates to win Champions League'

Louis van Gaal claims that Liverpool 'do not have the individual quality' to compete with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the last four of the Champions League.

Louis van Gaal has played down Liverpool's chances of winning the Champions League, despite the Reds' thumping 5-1 aggregate win against Manchester City in the quarter-finals.

A place in the last four of UEFA's elite club competition for the first time in a decade was sealed by a 2-1 triumph at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.

Liverpool and Roma are the two sides currently in the hat for the next round, but Van Gaal expects Real Madrid and in particular Bayern Munich to make their quality count if they also progress through from their last-eight ties.

"In comparison to the other teams, especially Real and Bayern, [Liverpool and Roma] have less individual quality," he told Dutch TV station Ziggo Sports.

"In principle they are not candidates, but they are a good team and that is always dangerous. If I have to bet now, I would put my money on Bayern Munich, which in my opinion has the best defence and a coach that adapts his team to the opponent, but who also assumes his own qualities, which is the key to success."

Bayern lead Sevilla 2-1 from the first leg and Real are 3-0 ahead against Juventus, with the return fixtures to be played on Wednesday evening.

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Mohamed Salah scores during the Champions League quarter-final second leg between Manchester City and Liverpool on April 10, 2018
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool15113131131836
2Chelsea16104237191834
3Arsenal1686229151430
4Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest168442119228
5Manchester CityMan City168352823527
6Bournemouth167452421325
7Aston Villa167452425-125
8Fulham166642422224
9Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton166642625124
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1672736191723
11Brentford167273230223
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle166552321223
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd166462119222
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham165472129-819
15Crystal Palace163761721-416
16Everton153661421-715
17Leicester CityLeicester163582134-1314
18Ipswich TownIpswich162681628-1212
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves1623112440-169
20Southampton1612131136-255


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