Europa League 2023/24: Liverpool remaining opponents - ranked

Liverpool are into the last eight of the Europa League and in some style.

The Reds battered Sparta Prague 6-1 at Anfield on Thursday night, making it 11-2 on aggregate across the tie.

The result was some statement from Jurgen Klopp's men, who are already the strong favourites to lift the trophy in Dublin this May.

Speaking after the final whistle, a punch-drunk Sparta manager Brian Priske admitted the Reds were on a different level to anything his side have come up against before.

He said: “We have never faced anything like this. Liverpool is a Champions League team and should be in the Champions League. They may be Premier League winners in two months. Big respect to the players of Liverpool and the coaching staff.”

The Merseysiders have little to fear going into the quarter final where they now now know they will face Atalanta, but what of the other sides left in the competition?

Here are the seven other remaining sides standing between the Reds and the trophy, ranked by difficulty.

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7. West Ham

Glamour: 0/10

Form: 5/10

Fear factor: 3/10

Definitely least glamorous of the remaining teams, unless you find the Westfield exotic. The way the draw has gone, Liverpool will only pair up with West Ham if they both make the final.

David Moyes' side came back from a 1-0 first leg defeat at Freiburg to win 5-0 at home on Thursday as they booked their place in the final eight.

West Ham are not a bad side by any means. The Hammers are seventh in the Premier League table, have quality operators like Jarrod Bowen, Mohammed Kudus and Lucas Paqueta and are, lest we forget, reigning European champions... of sorts.

That said, Liverpool have beaten them handily in two competitions already this season and would be strong favourites again if they meet in Dublin.

Moyes' record against the Reds is also famously dreadful. Tee hee.

6. Benfica

Glamour: 7/10

Form: 5/10

Fear factor: 5/10

One of the true historic clubs of European football. Along with Liverpool, Benfica are one of four sides on this list to have won the European Cup. Yes, the proper one...

However, these days a draw against a Portuguese side is generally seen as favourable for English opposition, as elitist as that sounds.

The Lisbon side led by Roger Schmidt — a very outside candidate for the Liverpool job — dropped down from the Champions League, after winning just once in a group that contained Inter, Real Sociedad and Red Bull Salzburg.

They have fared better in this competition, edging past Toulouse and then Rangers to make the final eight.

Benfica have quality, including 36-year-old Angel Di Maria enjoying a late chapter in his career, but are surely more focussed on chasing the title race in Portugal at this stage of the season.

They are on track to meet Liverpool in the semis if both sides overcome their quarter-final opponents.

5. Marseille

Glamour: 8/10

Form: 6/10

Fear factor: 4/10

One of the more interesting and spicier away days, Marseille is still an intriguing prospect but far from the truly daunting draw it might have once been.

The French side are way down in seventh in Ligue 1, a full 17 points off leaders PSG — though they are just three behind the Europa League qualification spots for next season.

After a rubbish start to 2023/24, form is returning to Marseille. They have won five of their last six in all competitions, with the only defeat coming in the second leg of the Europa League 16 tie — from which they progressed anyway.

They have beaten the likes of Ajax, Shakhtar Donetsk and Liverpool's 2022 Champions League semi-final opponents Villarreal already this season, but did lose at Brighton.

How scary can a team be that has Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang* up front in the year of our Lord 2024 anyway?

*He is this season's top scorer in the Europa League with nine goals

4. Atalanta

Glamour: 6/10

Form: 5/10

Fear factor: 6/10

In the end, Liverpool were drawn to face the least sexy of the three Italian teams in the final eight. However, Atalanta are no mugs.

After a 1-1 draw away at Sporting CP, they ended Liverpool managerial candidate Ruben Amorim's Europa League run with a 2-1 win in Bergamo on Thursday night, with former Everton man Ademola Lookman among the goals. Remember him?

The 26-year-old is having a fabulous time in Serie A this season, while the likes of Teun Koopmeiners and Giorgio Scalvini are fairly regularly linked with transfers to Liverpool such is their quality.

Manager Gian Piero Gasperini is also hailed as one of the best offensive coaches in Europe, having impressively turned the club from relegation battlers into European regulars since arriving in 2016.

They are also unbeaten in the Europa League so far in 2023/24.

All that said, their domestic form this season has been patchy, including a 4-0 demolition away at league leaders Inter, and they sit sixth in the table at the time of writing.

3. Roma

Glamour: 9/10

Form: 7/10

Fear factor: 7/10

Rome — the opponent and venue of Liverpool's 1984 European Cup win — is some destination for a big European away night and it's made even more enticing by the lack of one Jose Mourinho in the opposition dugout.

The former Chelsea and Manchester United troll was dispensed with in January and replaced by club legend Daniele De Rossi, who has got the Giallorossi in back in form.

Since taking over, he has lost just two of 12 matches, and one of those was a 1-0 reverse in the last 16 away leg at Brighton when they already held a 4-0 advantage from the home encounter.

The likes of Paulo Dybala and Romelu Lukaku are purring again, as Roma seek to avenge last season's Europa League final penalty shootout defeat to Sevilla.

They have been paired with AC Milan in perhaps the tie of the round, with the winner facing Bayer Leverkusen or West Ham in the semis.

Could Liverpool await for another final?

2. AC Milan

Glamour: 10/10

Form: 8/10

Fear factor: 7/10

Another side Liverpool have famous European history with, I don't think I need to spend paragraphs here explaining who Milan are and why this would be some final.

Besides the obvious historical context, Stefano Piolo's side are going well in Serie A, but have zero chance of winning it this year.

Their relative safety in Champions League qualification without a title race on the cards means they are primed for a Europa League run and have the squad to do so.

The likes of Rafael Leao, Mike Maignan Theo Hernandez are among the best in Europe in their positions, while a draw with Liverpool would set up a reunion between Virgil van Dijk and the man he called his toughest opponent: Olivier Giroud!

Thrown into a Champions League group of death at the start of the season, they managed to beat both PSG and Newcastle.

Since transitioning to the Europa, they have made fairly light work of Rennes and Slavia Prague.

1. Bayer Leverkusen

Glamour: 6/10

Form: 10/10

Fear factor: 9/10

The narrative lover's "dream" final was kept alive by Fernando Llorente who drew the balls for UEFA that kept Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen apart until the final.

Besides the Reds, Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen remain the team to avoid in this season's competition and stand as the second favourites for glory in Dublin.

The Germans, amazingly, are still unbeaten in all competitions this season (despite a big ol' scare against Qarabag on Thursday) and are on track for a historic treble, as they chase down a first-ever Bundesliga title as well as DFB Pokal.

Talents like Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Alex Grimaldo and Victor Boniface have become well known to English fans through the gossip columns at least, and there is a sense/depressing modern reality that if this team is going to do something special it'll have to be this season before it is broken up and sold for parts.

They face Moyes' West Ham first, before a potential date with Roma or Milan.