Ahead of every weekend this season, I will give you my three thoughts on what’s going on in the Premier League. These might not always be the biggest stories, but rather my personal observations.
This week, a special three thoughts blog ahead of Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool in Kiev, Ukraine.
On the brink of history
I cannot pretend to remember the 1981 European Cup final between Real Madrid and Liverpool, but I was once afforded the opportunity to host a discussion with Alan Kennedy a few years ago. Kennedy, of course, scored the lone goal in Liverpool’s 1-0 win, and as such I feel as if I was actually there in Paris to witness it.
Of course, back in that era Liverpool was the boss of the continent, having won four European Cups between 1977 and 1984, and if not for the tragic events at Heysel that resulted in a ban from European football for six years, it likely would have won more.
So, here we are all these years later, and Liverpool are attempting to stop history from happening, a third consecutive Champions League title for Real Madrid. I get the impression that due to Real’s relative domestic failure this season that we are not actually appreciating just what a third straight Champions League would mean. It would be truly remarkable, and evidence of a battle-hardened side that knows when to turn it on, when to score the big goals, and how to win when perhaps things aren’t going its way.
Ronaldo front and centre, as always
Central to Real Madrid’s cause is of course the big man up front, Cristiano Ronaldo. I read this week that he considers himself to be only 23 years old from a biological standpoint, and that he feels he can play until he is 41. If this is the case, CR7’s brilliant career is even more impressive, as it means he scored over 30 goals at Manchester United when he was only nine years old.
It seems blatantly obvious to target Ronaldo as Real’s danger man for this encounter. After all, he has 15 goals in 12 Champions League matches this season. However, against Bayern Munich in the semifinals, he was relatively invisible, and didn’t even score a goal over the two matches, which in this campaign is pretty much unheard of from the Portuguese.
Therefore, watch out! Ronaldo as we know is all about the big occasion, and will probably score in this one. Having said that, several players will score in this one, because there are likely to be defensive holes all over the pitch. It is that fact that makes this final so hard to predict; either team could win, it could be close, but it could also be a blow out. That, my friends, is called analysis!
Memories of 2005
Rafa Benitez said this week that this Liverpool is a better team than his vintage side of 2005, when the Reds clawed back that 3-0 deficit to slay AC Milan in the final.
Rafa is correct. By my reckoning only four members of that team would make it into this year’s version: Jerzy Dudek, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypia (although let’s be honest, that’s a wash with Virgil van Dijk) Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. Now, I should state that Gerrard and Xabi were enormous figures in that Liverpool side, and would completely reinvent the current team, arguably making them Premier League contenders, but I digress.
Rafa, of course, is bound to say that, as it reinforces his brilliance, and his tactical sophistication that saw him bring on the game changer Didi Hamann at half time, rather than focus on his decision to actually start Harry Kewell. I don’t foresee any such concerns for Jurgen Klopp, but who might be this year’s Didi? How fit is Adam Lallana anyway?
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