In his column for the Daily Mail today, Carra - who is due to join Sky Sports as an analyst - noted:
"For a retirement present, I was treated by a few Liverpool players to a trip to the Bernabeu earlier this month to watch the second leg of [Borussia Dortmund's] semi-final against Real Madrid".
Pretty cool present for someone who is as football-mad as Carragher, but it's a shame that the game itself wasn't a classic.
Despite that, Carra came away from the game mightily impressed with Dortmund, and tipped Jurgen Klopp's side to overcome Bayern in the final. He enthused:
"Dortmund have incredible pace, intensity and quality. They swarmed all over Madrid - Gundogan and Bender had too much energy and power for Khedira and Alonso, and if they can get on top of Schweinsteiger and Martinez, Bayern might find it difficult to keep pace"
Carra also believes Marco Reus could be the man to make the difference:
"In Reus, they have a player who has only been outperformed in the Champions League this year by Messi and Ronaldo. It has been said Gotze’s thigh injury will damage Dortmund’s chances, but losing Reus would have been worse"
Carra may be slightly exaggerating Reus's influence here. In the CL this season:
* Reus: 4 goals/2 assists in 12 apps.
* Messi: 8 goals/2 assists in 11 apps.
* Ronaldo: 12 goals/1 assist in 12 apps.
* Lewandowski: 10 goals/2 assists in 12 apps.
* Muller: 8 goals/2 assists in 12 apps.
In terms of specific, measurable impact on their respective teams, there's a strong case to suggest that Lewandowski and Muller have also outperformed Reus.
Jaimie Kanwar
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