Jamie Carragher Claims Current Liverpool Team Are Better Than 2005's Champions League Winners

Ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has gone out on a limb with claims of the current Reds side being better than the one that won the Champions League under Rafa Benitez in 2005.

The Anfield side are back in Europe's top contest and will be facing Porto in the first leg of their round of 16 tie next week. And Carragher, while acknowledging that his former team are 'big outsiders', still feels that they could pull off a Champions League miracle this season.

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Yes, Liverpool are big outsiders this season,” Carragher told the Liverpool Echo. “But this team is better than the Liverpool team I played in that won the Champions League in 2005.

“It will be tough against Porto but it's a winnable tie and if we get through that who knows what could happen.

“With all the talk about getting into the top four and qualifying for the Champions League for next season, we shouldn't forget that we're still in the competition this season.

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“I'm going over to Portugal myself next week and hopefully we can get a good result and see where it takes us.”

That is a pretty bold claim from the former England international, as that 2005 team boasted the likes of Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Steven Gerrard and Carragher himself. Yet they do have some real performers in their squad now in Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Virgil van Dijk.

Standing up to the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain this year's tournament, though, is something else entirely.