PREVIEWING THE UCL FINAL

Michael Nardi

With the semi-finals complete, only Real Madrid and Liverpool remain in Europe’s most exclusive club competition this season. Madrid pulled out the impossible, beating Manchester City by scoring a pair of goals with just six minutes left to play, bringing the highly anticipated contest to extra time.

The hero in this one would go undisputed, with Rodrygo scoring the two tallies before extra time. Benzema would convert on his penalty shot to kick off extra time and more importantly, to put Los Blancos ahead.

For Liverpool it looked smooth sailing through the first leg, however, Villarreal were incredible in the home leg, scoring two to level the tie and put the Reds under immense pressure. Despite the glimmer of hope shining from the Villarreal side, goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli would cost his side the all important second leg win, making multiple errors in goal to sway all the momentum to the English club. By the time the dust settled, the two legs finished 5-2 in favor of Liverpool.

Madrid comes into this match on the back of three consecutive comebacks in knockout matches ( Paris, Chelsea, and Manchester City) showing their historic Champions League DNA in the process. In each knockout stage they have been casted as the underdog on paper, yet prevail in the end time and time again thanks to Karim Benzema and his incredible goal scoring form.

The Frenchman has an impressive 15 goals in 11 UCL games, making him the frontrunner for this year’s Balon D’or. Likewise, the play of Luka Modric continues to improve, proving many doubters wrong in the process.

Manager Carlo Ancelotti proved his time at Everton was a mistake, as he has found the best out of this Madrid team up to this point, allowing them to play with freedom in the final third. However, questions need to be asked in terms of how much magic a team can have before it runs dry.

For Liverpool, their ride to the final was relatively smooth; defeating Inter Milan, Benfica, and Villarreal - with the latter giving the biggest scare of them all. Liverpool has not shown much fragility in both the UCL and domestically while being in a tight race for the Premier League title.

The likes of Luis Diaz, Thiago, and Sadio Mane have been the key difference makers in each matchup and will be a handful for Madrid in the final. Liverpool has also shown the ability to score in bunches, as no team has been able to contain their potent attack which will be a warning sign for Real Madrid who conceded 6 goals to Manchester City and 4 to Chelsea over two legs.

Overall, this final won’t come without its fair share of storylines and talking points heading into this match. Liverpool is looking to get revenge for their loss in the 2018 final to Real Madrid, in a game which saw Mohammed Salah get injured early on. Real Madrid is looking to continue to cement their claim for the greatest club ever with a potential 13th Champions League final win on the cards in Paris. Benzema also has the chance to bridge the gap over his competition in the Balon D’or race with his historic season potentially being capped off in style.

Michael’s prediction: Liverpool 3 Real Madrid 1