Rio Ferdinand has claimed Liverpool will not win the Champions League this season without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez - a view which has led to a great response from one fan.
The former Manchester United defender and BT Sport pundit said teams like Bayern Munich, PSG and Manchester City 'would be licking their lips' when facing the likes of Nat Phillips and Ozan Kabak, who kept a clean sheet against RB Leipzig on Wednesday night to help the Reds progress into the European Cup quarter-finals.
After watching that game, which Jurgen Klopp's side won 2-0 and progressed with a 4-0 aggregate scoreline, Ferdinand said: “If Van Dijk and Gomez aren’t there, they don’t win the Champions League for me, at all.
"There’s Bayern, there’s Man City, PSG - those teams will be licking lips if they come up against a centre-back partnership like that at this level.”
RB Leipzig are just two points behind Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga table and rarely troubled Alisson in the Liverpool goal during the European clash at the Puskas Arena.
The Reds produced an assured display to keep their Champions League hopes very much alive, with a number of world-class players among their ranks.
And on Twitter, Liverpool fan Ian Salmon responded perfectly to Ferdinand's claim about Klopp's defenders.
Rio Ferdinand saying we can’t possibly win the Champions League with Phillips and Kabak. We won it with Traore and Biscan, don’t tell us what we can’t do
— Ian Salmon (@IanRSalmon)
Igor Biscan was an unused substitute in the 2005 Champions League final but played a vital part in the Reds' run to the showpiece event, with notable performances against the likes of Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus and Chelsea.
Djimi Traore, meanwhile, started in the game against AC Milan in which Liverpool fought back from three goals down before claiming the club's fifth European Cup after a dramatic penalty shootout.
