Learn English – Would have been or could have been

subjunctives

Please look at this picture

enter image description here

It contains two players, Torres and Suarez.

These both were players for Liverpool football club. However, they were not playing at the same time. In other words, they have never played for Liverpool together.

Today there was a charity game in Liverpool and they played together in the same team.

Today the "Daily Mail Sport" magazine states in this link

These two are on at Anfield. What a duo they would have been for Liverpool FC. More here: Daily Mail

It says "would have been".

My question is why not could have been?

I think "could have been" is more correct because it is trying to say that if no one leaves Liverpool, they could have formed a good partners.

Best Answer

Either are correct.

Would have been great

sounds better in the context because it was merely circumstance that caused them to not play together.

Could have been great

sounds to me like there was something that caused them to not play together, such as a ban or similar.