Madrid (AFP) – Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are aiming to make up for several recent near misses while Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham can dream of winning the Champions League for the first time as the two English clubs meet in Saturday’s final in Madrid.
The Spanish capital is being taken over by a sea of English supporters on a searingly hot weekend ahead of the 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) kickoff in the Metropolitano Stadium.
For Liverpool, it is a chance to become European champions for a sixth time and end the season on the highest of highs after they agonisingly missed out to Manchester City in the Premier League title race, despite losing only once all season.
A year ago Liverpool lost the Champions League final 3-1 to Real Madrid in Kiev after Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah was forced to go off injured and in tears.
Underdogs then, they are the clear favourites now against opponents appearing in their first final in this competition since it started life as the European Cup in the 1950s.
Liverpool defender Andy Robertson said Liverpool were not taking anything for granted against Spurs.
“Personally, the games I’ve played against them in the Premier League have been the toughest games we’ve played,” the Scottish left-back said.
In terms of European pedigree, Liverpool are clearly ahead as they prepare for a ninth appearance in the final of this competition. Their last win was the memorable come-from-behind victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005.
In contrast, it is 35 years since Spurs were in any European final, so just being here is a huge achievement — and it comes only weeks after they moved into a sparkling new stadium.
“We are in football because we want to win but I think to get to the final in the Champions League, that journey is the most difficult thing,” said Pochettino.
– Kane to start? –
Tottenham could bring back top scorer Harry Kane after an ankle injury.
Form is against the London club as Liverpool have already beaten Spurs twice this season and have lost just one of their last 14 meetings.
Klopp, however, has lost his last six finals as a coach.
The German put a positive spin on that record.
“I am probably at the moment a world-record holder, in the last seven years at least, in winning semi-finals,” Klopp said. “But if I wrote a book about that probably nobody would buy it.”
from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2Wfd7TS
No comments:
Post a Comment