Alan Shearer has named reigning champions Real Madrid as the favourites to be crowned the cream of Europe yet again this season.
The Newcastle United legend was blown away by their performance against Manchester City, as Carlo Ancelotti's side defeated the struggling Premier League title holders 6-2 on aggregate with Kylian Mbappe scoring a hat-trick in Wednesday night's second leg at the Bernabeu.
And with City, one of the antepost favourites, now out, Shearer reckons it will be hard for anyone to stop a front three of Mbappe, Rodrgyo and Vinicius Junior.
"They’re looking very dangerous, Real Madrid, after having one or two poor results in the league games," Shearer said on The Rest Is Football podcast. "Two performances against City, both home and away, which will send a huge warning out to the rest of Europe in terms of teams that are left in.
"They know it’s their competition, they know how well they do and they excel in it and they have to win it."
Asked whether Real Madrid should be installed as the favourites, Shearer replied: "Yeah, I would put them favourites, absolutely. Definitely."
Ancelotti was without his entire first choice defence against City owing to injuries but Shearer went on to add that Jude Bellingham should consider it "a dream" to have such a dominant attack in front of him.
"It must be a dream, a treat, for those guys with the amount of chances that they create and the amount of ability that they’ve got. So Real Madrid are very, very strong and they are, without doubt, my favourites to win."
The draw for the round of 16 took place on Friday morning with Real set to face Atletico Madrid in a mouthwatering clash. Get through that, and Arsenal may stand in their way in the quarter-finals - the Gunners having been drawn against PSV in the last 16.
Liverpool finished top of the new league phase and have been handed a testing last 16 clash with Luis Enrique's new-look Paris Saint-Germain, who thrashed fellow French side Brest in their playoff.
The other remaining Premier League representative, Aston Villa, take on Club Brugge.