Liverpool and Real Madrid meet in the Champions League final in Paris on Saturday, with Jurgen Klopp’s side aiming to end the season with a trophy treble while the Spanish giants will look to Karim Benzema to inspire them to a 14th European Cup victory.
A crowd of 80,000 will be inside the Stade de France for the 9:00pm (1900 GMT) kickoff, as Liverpool and Real compete for European club football’s most prestigious prize for the second time in five years.
The final promises to be a fitting climax to the European season, with Liverpool looking to win a second Champions League in four seasons just days after they narrowly lost out to Manchester City in the Premier League title race.
They have already won the English League Cup and FA Cup.
“If you are a football person you know what my boys did so far this season was exceptional,” Klopp said on Friday.
“But we all know you are judged by the colour of the medal after a game.
“I’m more than happy and proud of what we did so far, it’s really special. I will feel better if we win the game and that’s all that I am concerned about,” Klopp added.
The German has been boosted by the news that Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara are fit to play.
Both start in midfield for the Reds, while Luis Diaz joins Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah in attack.
This final is only being played in Paris after Saint-Petersburg was stripped of the game following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Up to 60,000 Liverpool supporters have travelled to the French capital, most without tickets.
With only 20,000 supporters from each club allowed to attend the final, tens of thousands of Liverpool fans packed into a fan zone set up in the east of the city, turning a tree-lined avenue into a sea of red.
“Look by yourself, we’ve taken over all of Paris!” Rohan Sood, 22, from London, told AFP.
Comments