Real Madrid vs Liverpool

Liverpool's first half is monsterous. Really top quality stuff that Zidane and the lads are gonna have to be really prepared for. As long as Madrid survive the 1st half (to which I think we'll at least concede 1 goal), Madrid would have it easier in the 2nd half since Pool almost always drops off in the 2nd half immensely.

In any case, great tie and hopefully Madrid pull through. I won't begrudge a Pool win though, no beef with them or her fans.

I wish I shared the same confidences I have seen across the RM fans, but I really think Liverpool (on current form) are favorites, by a fair distance, to beat us.

They aren't unbeatable, but their attacking trio is some of the best I have seen. Up there with Messi, Suarez, Neymar for me. And they attack from areas we are the weakest.

Lol, most Madrid fans tend to be arrogant about the team's chances. I'm under no delusion that Liverpool can put a proper beating on Madrid in the final, that front 3 presses insanely well, a proper press too and a midfield that would chase pavements if necessary. Literally, every player who is gonna start in the final is gonna have to put in a real sled dog shift. So that foolishness Kroos gave us, he cannot do it again.

That being said, Pool does have a serious flaw in their game. The 2nd half intensity almost always drops off and as long as Madrid weather the 1st half to a reasonable degree, they'll have a much better time in the 2nd half. Better said than done though. This match is gonna be insane, cannot wait.

Yeah totally agree. The game is going to be won and lost in the last ten minutes. I guess that is kinda obvious, but it is even more true of how this Liverpool team play.

6-2 Real Madrid

I have the same opinion as most of you. Liverpool are clear favorites for this tie, but if we could just shake off our laziness and put our hearts and souls into the game we might have a chance.

I'm not really one of those who think reaching the final is a trophy by itself. We have to win the CL to save what is an otherwise horrendous season.

It's going to be difficult, but if Liverpool can dream so can Madrid.

Go get me my baby from Kiev and I'll forever be grateful to you.

oh and I implore Z to rest all the players and not risk them under any circumstances. The league is lost and I honestly couldn't care less whether we win or lose against Barcelona in the upcoming clasico, who by the way will do everything in their power to injure one or two of our players before the final.

Rest everybody; really there's no need to risk anyone in a finished competition with nothing left to play for. Let's instead save our energy for the real battle in Kiev.

If you think we're going to be complacent in the last 10 mins of the game, You guys are very wrong. We need to be atleast 5 goals up or have a 7-3 up aggregate for that. We will fight till the end.

The Demon of Carthage wrote:I have the same opinion as most of you. Liverpool are clear favorites for this tie, but if we could just shake off our laziness and put our hearts and souls into the game we might have a chance.

I'm not really one of those who think reaching the final is a trophy by itself. We have to win the CL to save what is an otherwise horrendous season.

It's going to be difficult, but if Liverpool can dream so can Madrid.

Go get me my baby from Kiev and I'll forever be grateful to you.

God this is cancer. How are Liverpool clear favorites ?

We had to beat Apoel, Spurs, BVB, PSG, Jjuve and Bayern to get to the final, meanwhile Liverpool had Sevilla, Spartak Moscow, Maribor, Porto, Citeh, Roma. We won on aggregate 5-2 against PSG (the one everyone expected to beat the shat out of us but were nowhere to be found on the football pitch because they bought a flash football clown and the most overrated teenager in football history), destroyed Juve before we had an unexpected meltdown at home and beat Bayern 4-3 on aggregate. On the other side, Liverpool just conceded 6 goals over 2 legs against Roma.

Just think straight, we have by far the better and more experienced team. I hope that the boys don't get complacement, otherwise this is in the bag.

Roma results are inconsequential for the final. It was a chain of events since the time we were 5-0 up. I'd keep them aside while analyzing us if I were you.

I truly believe we're going to destroy Liverpool. Their road to the final was literally a cake walk other than City and they're very familiar with City obviously... Roma's midfield is crap and the defenders are slow.  We're going to dominate the midfield and we have very fast defenders.  

I also want to mention that Liverpool's back 4 is awful...  like really pathetic.  They have to try to overwhelm opponents with getting ahead in the score because they can't sit back...  gamble that, when they lose energy, they will have a lead to protect.

We got this.

I can't for the life of me understand how some of you feel Liverpool is the favorite if you've watched Liverpool at all this season.

They're a poor man's Dortmund team when Klopp was there... much poorer version. It's all about the first 30 mins.

Because they have the highest scoring trio in CL history, and they attack from areas where we are weak. They have picked apart the team I think has been the most complete team in Europe this season - City. Multiple times too.

Not to mention we had a stronger path to the final, but we limped here since PSG. Both Juve and Bayern ties could have gone either way.

City's midfield isn't that great.... and doesn't need to be in EPL. Fernadinho-Gundogan don't really impress me. Their fullbacks are poor defensively as well. They way they play is perfect for Liverpool in a way.... they play extremely high. Falls right into the lap of how Liverpool likes to attack.

We're a far better team than City. We've just been very complacent in La Liga, which cost us very early.

sportsczy wrote:I can't for the life of me understand how some of you feel Liverpool is the favorite if you've watched Liverpool at all this season.

They're a poor man's Dortmund team when Klopp was there... much poorer version. It's all about the first 30 mins.

Neither me, Madrid are the favourites. Like, this is not even a debate. We are the 2 time defending UCL winners, of course we are the favourites. It does not mean diddly squat when they face each other on the field but Madrid are the favourites.

Anyway, I still maintain as long as we maintain a reasonable score in the 1st half (0 goals would be ideal) then the 2nd half would be better for Zidane and the lads as Liverpool's intensity almost always drops off in the 2nd half.

I don't think we would blow them out the water but I do have a friend who truly believes Madrid would hit them about 4. I don't see it though. I see us struggling a lot in that 1st half but still creating some legit chances ourselves.

For once this season, I have to agree with Sports. I don't expect a blowout, but at the same time I don't expect us to lose. Certainly, Liverpool is not the favorite.

A lot of the criticism here re some players against Juve and Bayern is due to the players trying to play Zidane's tactics which were essentially old school Italian futbol, team defense and counters. Some of the players struggled with the defensive roles they were asked to play. But in no way was that due to complacency or laziness. I actually recall some of that same criticism against Zidane when he was a player!!!

Liverpool is quite different than Bayern and Juve so don't expect the exact same tactics.

All this to me is pretty incredible (Zidane and tactics) as most of us spent a lot of time saying Zidane had no tactics to implement as he was just a man management coach. Either we missed something or he has developed a tactical brain! Now if we can just get him to shed his love for Bbenzema and make some good summer roster decisions, he may yet become the coach we all want.

Trust me, I hope we win. I am going off of current form and Liverpool are flying IMO and we have limped to the finish. If we come out and play like we did against Juve in the first leg, or against PSG we will win, but we have had a lot more bad performances from then until now so I am not overly optimistic.

Once La Liga was lost (which was long long ago although not as long as some here believed), La Liga games became training sessions for us... I wouldn't really read a lot into it. We picked it up briefly to guarantee ourselves a top 4 finish. But otherwise, it was all about getting ready for CL games.

vanDEEZ wrote:Because they have the highest scoring trio in CL history, and they attack from areas where we are weak.

But they aren't even the best trio of all time in CL? So that statistic means nothing to me.

On top of that, I don't rate Mane and I don't rate Firmino as highly as Mo Salah. So out of that trio, only Mo Salah is good enough to play for us.

I see this as a easy win really. Agree with sportsczy, 6-2 is what's going to happen

I'm not sure what you mean? Are you debating against the stats?

I couldn't care less about this subjective idea of "best." If that was the case we would win every game on paper before the match.

Mane, Salah, and Firmino are pumping out the stats and are the on-form team. That's just a fact, you can either accept it and hope we prepare properly, or you can deny it and watch 9 goals go by you (like Roma) or 5 goals (City).

I think some of you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I'm in no way underrating Madrid, I know what we're capable of when we play at our best. I also know that individually speaking, we blow them out of the water.

However, the reason I think Liverpool are clear favorites for the tie is because they have Madrid's kryptonite: gegenpressing. That and the fact that Madrid haven't really been that convincing against Juventus in the return leg or Bayern. They, on the other hand, seem to be going through an explosive form and scoring goals for fun.

Now, granted, we have had a far superior and more difficult run to the final while they enjoyed a relatively easy ride. But still, they sure as hell have done enough to make us be wary of them.

Like vanDeez said, we limped to the final breathing through a straw while they have been torching everybody in their path.

Madrid is Madrid, the king of kings and the godfather of the CL, but there's no shame in saying that Liverpool have a very good chance of winning it based on Madrid's recent run of form and that if we want to emerge as winners we have to raise our grit and motivation. We mustn't play like we did against Bayern. We mustn't.