Real Madrid are striving to win a hat-trick of titles in the Champions league final on Saturday. But in their way stand the mighty Liverpool, who will provide a bigger challenge than other opponents Los Blancoshave faced in the recent years.
For Madridistas, this almost feels like an annual event now. It’s the Champions League final, and their team are in it. Yet again. Real Madrid have made a habit of starring in these finals and winning them too. In 2017, they became the first team in Champions League history to win consecutive titles. They are also the first team to win 3 titles in four years.
If they win on Saturday, they will do the previously unthinkable: a hat-trick of Champions League titles. 4 wins in 5 years.
Almost matching the glory of 1956-60 when they won 5 titles back-to-back in the older European Cup format.
Some might say, including myself, that this would be a more difficult and celebrated feat than 5 consecutive titles back in the day. The modern version of the Champions League is notorious to be unpredictable, a giant killer. Many legendary teams tried and failed to win the double – Manchester United in 2008-09, Bayern Munich in 2013-14, and of-course Pep’s Barcelona in 2009-10 and 2011-12. A hat-trick in this era was beyond imagination, yet Real Madrid are on the verge of claiming the glory.
Real Madrid’s special connection with the Champions League
There is something about this Madrid team which make them such an unbeatable force in the Champions League. People attribute this to multiple factors:
- Experience at the biggest stage
- Sheer arrogance, stemming from their glorious history
- A self-belief, second to none
- Refusal to admit defeat at any point in the match (Refer to La Decima if you don’t know what I mean)
- Ability to dig deep and win ugly as well
- Superstar phenomenon, where individual performances bail them out
- Desire for the Champions League, which doesn’t diminish even with increasing titles
#RealMadrid are full of confidence for the Champions League final
They respect the challenge @LFC pose...
But they know from experience that they have what it takes to be optimistic.
buff.ly/2s6DpGT
Point 4 deserves special mention. Many current and former Barcelona players point out that for them to win, they need to ace their style and be at the top of their game.But Madrid can win even if they don’t play well.
People say it like it is a bad thing, but I beg to differ. I think this is an amazing quality which Madrid possess. After all, not every day can be your day in football. There will be days when you can’t get the rhythm going, but the ability to fight out a positive result is the mark of a true Champion.
And it is this trait which makes them so tricky for their opponents. Real Madrid can have an average performance for 85 minutes, but they can take the game away from you in the remaining 5 minutes. They look so likely to concede all the time; it seems that if not this match, then the next match will prove to be their undoing. But they live to fight another day. They always find a way.
Despite the above, however, there is a palpable sense of anxiety around the Madrid fans for this final. They realize that Liverpool are a major threat to their throne. And they are not wrong in feeling so.
What makes Liverpool different
What a journey this has been for Liverpool under Klopp, especially this year. At the start of the season, no one thought they had a shot. When Coutinho was sold to Barcelona in the winter transfer window, that thought was further cemented. But this team has made heads turn, and deservedly so.
New found ability to soak up the pressure and survive
While they were dominant in the group stages, they first announced themselves after their decimation of Manchester City in the quarter-finals, beating them in both legs. Whoever thought Liverpool can only attack and don’t know how to soak up the pressure were proven wrong. In the first half of the second leg, City threw the kitchen sink at Liverpool, but Liverpool survived the onslaught. They attacked them on the counter and comfortably sailed home in the second half.
Manchester City 1-2 Liverpool (agg 1-5): Champions League quarter-final – as it happened #LFC ift.tt/2qlmnUG
Then came Roma, and 70 minutes of the first leg was a Liverpool show. Everything stood out about them: that angled Salah goal in the corner, the movement & understanding of the forward players, the might of Anfield and the vision of Klopp. But Liverpool was nowhere near as dominant in the remaining 110 minutes of the tie. One more goal in the second-leg would have forced the game into extra-time, and this after they were once 5-0 up in the tie. But they survived, like Madrid did against Juventus, and are out to spoil Madrid’s party this Saturday.
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