Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confessed that there is a chance his players could be haunted by the manner of their dramatic collapse against Manchester United.
The Citizens were two goals ahead inside half an hour of Saturday's match at the Etihad Stadium and had numerous chances to completely kill things off before the break.
A failure to take their openings, though, with Raheem Sterling guilty of squandering two glorious opportunities, would cost City dearly as United scored three times in the second half to turn the game on its head.
Instead of welcoming Liverpool on a high of being crowned Premier League champions in a record time, Guardiola's men are now aiming to avoid a third successive loss after having their title party derailed by their rivals.
Guardiola hopes that his players do not get weighed down by the painful manner of the collapse if they score early on against the Reds, as they require three goals to level up the Champions League quarter-final tie.
"Yeah, it can happen," he told reporters when asked if his players could be affected. "Yeah it's difficult in itself, it's difficult for our mood not winning against United and, yeah, that can happen.
"But maybe we will improve for the future on that, to realise that sometimes it's not enough what you've done to win the games. I came here in the first half to try to do what we've done all season but maybe it's not enough to win at Champions League level or the Premier League.
"If that's so I will have recognise that I'm not good enough, or the way we want to play is not able to do that, but I don't think so because of what we've done this season, in the first half [against United], even in moments in the second half.
"I have to be happy. I like to watch my team, the way we play this season and the way we played in the first half [against United] but, when you play against Liverpool or in Europe, when you have that momentum you have to close the door. And we didn't close it [against United]."
Only twice before has a team overturned at least a three-goal deficit in the second leg of a Champions League knockout tie - Barcelona against Paris Saint-Germain last season and Deportivo in their last-eight meeting with AC Milan 14 years ago.
Daniel Lewis
