WHETHER you’re lucky enough to be clutching a golden ticket from a draw that would put Willy Wonka to shame, you’re heading for a bar in Madrid hoping for fairly-priced admission to fall from the sky or, like me, you’re happily resigned to tuning in back home in a pub with mates, the European Cup final is now very real.
After an unnecessarily prolonged wait post Premier League finale, the showdown with Spurs is now only days away. Flags are flying in Liverpool, the airport is filling with red and anyone with skin in the game is now feeling the flutters, tangling with the double-edge of dreaming of what could be while dreading more despair.
Continental finals are nothing new to the seasoned Red but this one feels different because of Liverpool’s respected status under Jurgen Klopp. This is an incarnation of the club we love that is now respected the world over. It is expected to deliver and the odds show that.
Season-long, we’ve heard how opposition managers don’t fancy the prospect of being pulled out of the hat to face 90 minutes against this side.
And after defeating the champions of France, Germany, Portugal and Spain en route to the final at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, coupled with a Premier League points haul bettered only twice in the history of the game, you can bet Mauricio Pochettino and his players are surely feeling the same way.
The improvement in Liverpool in the 12 months that have passed since the 3-1 Champions League final defeat in Kiev have been marked.
The Reds bolted 22 points on to their previous Premier League performance, losing just one game and ending the season with statistically the best defence, conceding just 22 goals in 38 games.
Using the same marker for Spurs, the Londoners have actually gone backwards in the league, regressing from third and 77 points to fourth and 71. Defensively, goals conceded were up by three.
Some might say it’s understandable when Tottenham have progressed so deep into European competition. They’re probably right to. And that only serves to emphasise another point. For Liverpool to run Manchester City so close in the league AND reach a second successive Champions League final is remarkable.
In all competitions last season, Klopp’s side played 56 games, winning 31, drawing 16 and losing nine. Sixty-three goals were shipped, with two of those in Kiev inexplicable in their nature and supremely costly.
Overall, The Reds in season 2017-18 won 55 per cent of matches contested in all competitions.
This season that has been ramped up to an incredible 78.95 per cent. They’ve lost less, drawn less, conceded less and won more. Question marks and doubts don’t do much to the discussion where this side is concerned.
No longer does this feel like a Liverpool that is taking us on a rollercoaster ride of emotion-fuelled football, sweeping all aside in a barely believable manner against all the odds. Neither is it the Rafa Benitez Liverpool – a side often marching on while the manager is clearly wringing everything and more out of some of the players at his disposal.
Instead, this Liverpool, while still backed by a feverish fanbase and capable of the incredible as per the Barcelona semi-final second leg result, feels like it belongs. All around there is quality to call on, front to back.
It’s at the top and it’s planning on staying there. This side is back in the Champions League final because it deserves to be.
Taking the temperature of the mood of the players and manager via their media duties this week, it appears they feel the same way.
When they enter the field of play shortly before 8pm on Saturday, wide-eyed wilting at the size of the occasion and the potential of the prize seems extremely unlikely.
Eight of the players that took on Real Madrid will likely face Spurs. They have been here, seen it and while they didn’t do it, they have a clear idea of what it takes to.
Tottenham Hotspur, meanwhile, are treading new ground. This is their first presentation to the main lecture theatre, the job interview to a po-faced panel for the career dream, the first time they have taken the car onto the motorway alone.
Pochettino, like Klopp and many more modern managers, is big on the mental side of the game and has talked of how important it is to control nerves in this match.
He’s dead right. But everything points to more opportunity for Spurs to be suffering from them than Liverpool.
Given the respective season-long performances, given the history, the recent matches, and the strength of the respective squads, which set of players is more likely to be having nightmares about the other as the game ticks ever closer?
Throw in how Liverpool lost the final last year, how desperate they surely must be to put that right, and it’s hard to imagine a side in red frozen by the occasion. Instead, expect the opposite. Put the brick walls up and they will run through them for you.
It’s been a season to savour. It’s a Liverpool side that is among the very best to represent the club. But now they must wrap that famous old trophy in red ribbons for a sixth time.
In Liverpool’s ninth European Cup final The Reds do not need to fear something that should instead fear them.
That’s a huge psychological advantage and one Liverpool must make pay come Saturday.
A £10 bet on Liverpool to win the Champions League returns £15.00
