Four years after a final that left open wounds, Real Madrid and Liverpool meet again in the great battle of Paris. The duel of the 19 European Cups between the king of the competition, with thirteen conquests, and the ‘network’ desire to be in his wake, with what would be his seventh to hunt down AC Milan. The last step of a ‘Champions’ in which Carlo Ancelotti’s men showed that nothing is impossible in football.
The Stade de France de Saint-Denis hosts a majestic final, the most repeated in the history of the European Cup. The footballing power exhibited by Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool, winner of four titles in his season, given the respect gained through comebacks for history Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid. An example of resistance. The display of a special DNA that prevents you from lowering your arms and never giving up. The vindication of a group of players who, only they, believed in their chances of success in Europe.
Ancelotti’s season on his return to the white bench is already over outstanding. The League won with authority, the one that was missing to be the only one that conquered the five big ones, and the Spanish Super Cup, left in oblivion a blank end of cycle of Zinedine Zidane. But the Real Madrid of the impossible assumes the weight of history and it is never enough for such a winning club. The experience of the big events and the physique after a month of rotations against a Liverpool that played it all with maximum demand, fall on the Madrid side. His challenge is to get football to do it too.
“The finals are not played, they are won”left for posterity the legend Alfredo di Stéfano. And there appears a Real Madrid that has not lost one since 1981, precisely against Liverpool, curiously in Paris. That is why it is the appointment of pending accounts. Before Lorian Karius provoked with his double failure in kyiv against Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale, one of the saddest nights in 2018, the ‘reds’ had left the Garcia’s Real Madrid at the gates of glory. Since then, the Madrid team has won seven finals in a row. Specialist in moments of greatness.
The current Real Madrid is looking for a nickname and it is mandatory that the name of Karim Benzema appear. No recent success is understood without the leadership of the French striker. Protagonist of a spectacular mutation. From playing to make those around him happy, to becoming a fearsome striker. A different role, the same quality in the associations as in the definition.
A major player who will take the final step to the Ballon d’Or if he drives his team to the title after his previous exhibitions. His highest scoring season 44 goals in 45 matches, without losing his generosity with 15 assists. author of 15 goals in 11 games of ‘Champions’, ten in the knockout rounds, scoring in the last five duels to overcome PSG, eliminate defending champion Chelsea and put the finishing touch to the epic comeback against Manchester City. Matching records that only a goal eater like Cristiano Ronaldo had been able to star in.
Nothing would have been possible without Benzema but neither without the saving saves of Thibaut Courtois, the daring of Vinícius, without the eternal youth of Luka Modric with his recorded outside pass that lifted Real Madrid off the canvas against Chelsea, without the saving appearances from ‘Mr. Champions’ Rodrygo who finished off that work of art and then signed a brace in 89 unforgettable seconds to equalize in added time of the semi-final second leg against City, a tie that seemed doomed.
It is the key to the success of a Real Madrid without egos, a united locker room in which nine players who won four ‘Champions’ with the gall of young talents who want to take on the world live together. The Benzemas, Casemiro, Modric, Kroos, Carvajal, Nacho, Marcelo, Isco and Gareth Bale. The ‘last Dance’ for the last three as madridistas in the best possible farewell to players who marked an era but lost prominence in its final part. Nobody made it difficult for Ancelotti, who highlights the “great atmosphere inside the locker room” as a fundamental factor to be on the verge of history. A win would make him the coach with the most Champions Leagues, four, surpassing Bob Paisley ya Zidane.
His eleven is more than defined and rested. With the desire to show that a player of the size of Kylian Mbappé is not necessary to reign in Europe again. Protecting himself in the exchange of blows that the final presents with the entry of Fede Valverde as a fourth starting midfielder and keeping Rodrygo as ‘plan B’ for the second part. Recovered after a month without playing David Alaba to lead the defense. Make the game long against Liverpool, put in maximum intensity and wear and tear on the rival ends up appearing, Madrid’s physical superiority due to the work of Antonio Pintus As in the previous rounds, it will be essential to get closer to the glory of the fourteenth.
The project that Jürgen Klopp started in Anfield almost seven years ago is at its peak. Precisely just after the worst season of the German era. After a year in which the ‘Reds‘ Needed a perfect league finish to break into the top four of the Premier League, Liverpool are back in the Champions League final, seeking their seventh European Cup, the third this century after 2005 in Istanbul and that of 2019 in Madrid.
With the best team in recent years, something widely recognized in England, Liverpool has been close to perfection this season to the point of being one point in the Premier League from being the first team in the history of English football to be able to conquer poker of titles. The defeat against Manchester City in the league competition is past water for Klopp’s men, “it doesn’t hurt us any more”, explained the German, and leaves them in a position to still get the third treble in British football, after that of Celtic de Glasgow in 1967 and the Manchester United in 1999. Of course, less than that of these two teams, for having the League Cup and not with the league.
The 63 games they will play this season are a record and also a weakness. “We are very tired”, insisted Fabinho these days and it is not surprising seeing the physical problems that the ‘Reds’ have gone through in recent times. Mohamed Salah, Fabinho, Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, Thiago Alcantara and Divock Origi have suffered muscular injuries in the last two weeks. The greatest uncertainty is that of the Spanish midfielder, who suffers from some discomfort in the Achilles tendon and will be in doubt until the last moment. The one who will not be will be Origi, while Van Dijk and Fabinho will arrive without a single minute in the legs in the last two weeks.
The revenge Due to what happened in 2018, it is one of Liverpool’s great impulses for this final, which, unlike in kyiv, has the experience of having already won the competition once.
The spirit of the goal Alan Kennedy in 1981, the almost 50 wins this season, Salah’s 31 goals, Van Dijk’s superiority in defense and a block that has been competing at the highest level for years and has reached three finals in five years are the arguments of a Liverpool that sees in this final the icing on the cake. “If we lose it will still be a great season, if we win it will be fantastic,” Klopp admitted.
Likely lineups:
Liverpool: Allison; Alexander-Arnold, Konaté, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Keita, Henderson; Salah, Mane and Luis Diaz
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Alaba, Militao, Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric, Fede Valverde; Vinicius and Benzema.
Referee: Clement Turpin (FRA).
Estadio: Stade de France.
Hour: 21.00 (19.00 GMT).
