Real Madrid vs Liverpool – Champions League Preview

Champions League | Preview

25/05/18

The showpiece event of European club football is upon us as Real Madrid take on Liverpool in a bid to be kings of the continent. For the holders Real, it is a fourth final in just five years as Zinedine Zidane’s men look to win a hat-trick of titles.

While for Liverpool they will be looking for a first Champions League success in 13 years, 2005 was the last time that they lifted this prestigious trophy and it was arguably the most dramatic final of recent times.

That night saw Rafael Benitez’s men come back from 3-0 down to eventually beat A.C. Milan, a result that put the Spaniard among Anfield folklore while Liverpool’s current manager will be looking to do the same as he looks to mastermind a victory over the side that have won the past two editions of this competition.

Liverpool suffered European final disappointment back in 2016 under Klopp’s tutelage, a result that also saw them lose to Spanish opposition at the hands of Sevilla in the Europa League final. The hope will be that lessons would have been learned in defeat and they can now go one better.

If they are to do so they are going to have to stop the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema from causing their defence headaches, the best way to defend though may well be to hit them on the attack.

Something that was cevident in the quartet of matches that were played against Manchester City and Roma in the Quarter and Semi-Finals respectively, in those games Liverpool were simply too hot to handle and if they offer more of the same then Los Blancos could be in real trouble.

Real Madrid have arguably saved their best performances for the Champions League but even with that being the case they have perhaps stuttered at times, many were writing the club off after defeat to Tottenham back in the group stages.

While they also received an almighty scare against Juventus in the Quarter-Finals when it needed a dramatic late penalty from Cristiano Ronaldo to kill off any comeback hopes that the Turin based outfit had nearly established.

But perhaps this is a sign of champions, progressing when the odds are against them and digging out the victory when their backs are against the wall. A point that was proved when facing Bayern Munich in the Semi-Finals.

The German giants were perhaps masters of their downfalls after gifting Real a goal at both the Allianz Arena and Santiago Bernabeu, had they not done so then it would have more than likely be them going to Kyiv this weekend.

However, if you don’t take your chances and present them to your opposition then teams like Real will pounce on the opportunity. With that in mind Liverpool will have to be at their absolute best if they are to foil the club form the Spanish capital.

That said Real have shown that they are exploitable and if the likes of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah can find a weakness then it could blow proceedings wide open. The big question though is who goes onto win Europe’s top prize.

Will it be Real Madrid who make it a lucky 13 or will it be the joy of six for Liverpool?