As we head toward the champions league final, the key battles that we will be looking froward to.
5. Jurgen Klopp and Real Madrid.
Klopp has bittersweet memories against Real Madrid and went head to head while he was in charge of Dortmund. With the trio of Reus-Lewandowski-Gotze Dortmund put an impressive fight against Real Madrid quite a number of times. While this time he will be heading the game with a different team but we can expect a similar display of football. This will be high voltage game and will be alive till the 90th minute of the game.
4. Salah-Mane-Firmino.
With Coutinho leaving for Barcelona, Livepool was left with a void to refurbish the loss of the Brazilian maestro who was an integral part of Liverpool’s system, but then Salah happened.
Joining the reds on 22 June 2017, Salah has been the best player for Liverpool since then from winning Premiere league Golden Boot, PFA Player of the Year, African Player of the Year; it’s been just a year and he is making history.
With the trio of Mane, Salah and Firmino, Liverpool has flourished under Jurgen Kloop. These three have scored a total of 57 goals since Salah joined and will play an integral part to take Real Madrid down.
Zinadine Zidane needs to keep an eye on Salah! The world knows what damage he can cause.
3. Real Madrid for the 3rd time.
2016,2017 and the 3rd time Real Madrid managed to reach the Champions league final and they will not go unanswered. They may have bottled the League and Copa Del Rey but they will be putting their might in this one last game.
Keeping aside the controversial offside goals, Penalty decisions, and other moments where the referees favored Madrid, but they have been sensational to watch. The most positive team in terms of scoring goals and winning the Champion League format they will hit Liverpool hard.
Liverpool-Madrid battle, Madrid will have an edge over Liverpool having more experience of champions league football than Liverpool winning the title for a record of 12 times and will be looking to extend the count to 13.
If Madrid wins, they will make a record for winning the Champions trophy 13th time and also will be the second team after Bayern Munich to win the tryophy three times in a row.
2. Attacking Full-backs and Defensive errors.
Real Madrid will either go for traditional 4-3-3 or versatile 4-4-2 with Ronaldo (most probably) paired up with Gareth Bale who is scoring goals and is in a good form lately. Also Loris Karius along side Van Dijk and Lovren will need to deal with Ramos, Varane, Bale and Ronaldo in air duels, most of the crosses will be coming from both the sides of field from Marcelo and Carvajal attacking through both the flanks.
Madrid will play their defensive line high up the field, this will open up space for Liverpool’s frontline to break Madrid apart. Marcelo and Carvajal both of them have been shaky while defending against high pressing team, leaving behind Ramos and Varane exposed quite often.
Jurgen Klopp with take note from Madrid’s recent games against Bayern Munich, Juventus, Barcelona even yesterdays games against Villarreal. The match ending up 2-2 both of the goals coming in the second half of the games and scored buy both the substitutes of Villarreal.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo (33) the top scorer of UCL(120 goals) only trailed by Lionel Messi (100 goals) will give Liverpool nightmares. This man is an absolute beast the best goal scorer of this generationand there is none who is more deadly than Ronaldo in terms of scoring. He is back from a minor knock on his ankle accumulated during the match against Barcelona and he looks sharp and ready for the final.
Liverpool will need to display something extraordinary like Bayern Munich that kept Ronaldo at bay. They will need to produce a game like Bayern Munich who kept Ronaldo completely out of the game and he was nowhere to be found.
Any Defensive error by Liverpool and Madrid will tear Liverpool apart.
predicted lineups:
Real Madrid: Keylor Navas(GK), Sergio Ramos(c), Varane, Carvajal, Marcelo, Kroos, Casemiro, Isco, Bale, Ronaldo (4-4-2)
Liverpool: Karius(GK), Van Dijk, Lovren, Alexender-Arnlod, Robertson, Henderson, Wijdnalum, Milner(doubtful), Salah, Mane, Firmino (4-3-3).
This will be a match to watch, the reigning champions vs the dark horse.
comment down your predictions below.
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