Seattle Daily Star

  Villa manager faces old club in Premier League on Tuesday then Guardiola’s side on final day of season “This does not slip,” Steven Gerrard told his Liverpool teammates on the afternoon he felt as close as he ever would to lifting a league title with the club that defined his career. It was the spring of 2014. His leadership qualities were at their peak. A television microphone picked up his urgent words — “this does not slip” — in the celebratory huddle after a tough 3–2 victory over Manchester City had kept Liverpool before City in the title race. That season, Liverpool ended up second, their momentum broken by a defeat to Chelsea. City won the Premier League, and would go on to wait several years into the post-Gerrard era at Anfield before Liverpool again became the chief obstacle to their accumulation of more and more titles. The next one looks imminent, with City leading the table by three points with three fixtures left, and although Gerrard would never say so, Liverpo...

  Liverpool paired with Benfica while Bayern Munich travel to Villarreal for quarter-final first leg Manchester City have been drawn against Atletico Madrid while fellow title-holders Chelsea will face Real Madrid following Friday’s Champions League quarter-final draw. Spain’s third representative, Villarreal, meet German giants Bayern Munich while Benfica host Liverpool in their first-leg. The first team drawn in each fixture play their home match first with the first legs on April 5 and 6 before the second legs on April 12 and 13 The semi-finals will have the first legs on April 26 and 27 and the second legs on May 3 and 4 . The Stade de France in Paris will host the final on Saturday, 28 May after it was moved from St Petersburg after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Quarter-finals Chelsea v Real Madrid Manchester City v Atletico Madrid Villarreal v Bayern Munich Benfica v Liverpool Semi-finals Man City/Atletico v Chelsea/Real Madrid Benfica/Liverpool v Villarreal v...