Liverpool and Real Madrid face off in the Champions League final for the second time in five years, with Jurgen Klopp’s side aiming to end the season with a triplet of trophies, while the Spanish giants they will look for Karim Benzema to inspire them to a 14th European edition. Cup victory.
A crowd of 80,000 spectators will be inside the Stade de France for the final on Saturday, which will start at 21:00 in Paris (19:00 GMT), including 20,000 fans from each side who have officially got beautiful tickets for the match.
Some 40,000 Liverpool fans without tickets to the match are also expected to be in Paris, while 7,000 police officers will be on duty as part of a mass security operation.
The final promises to be a suitable climax for the European season, with Liverpool looking to win a second Champions League in four seasons since losing 1-3 to Real Madrid in Kyiv in 2018, when Mohamed Salah was injured in the first part and Gareth. Bale scored two goals for the Spaniards.
Liverpool FC fans dance and drink near a bar in Paris on the eve of the Champions League final [Thomas Coex/AFP]
The victory would round out a campaign in which Liverpool won the English League Cup and the FA Cup, and finished just one point behind champions Manchester City in the Premier League.
“I’m more than happy and proud of what we’ve done so far, it’s really special,” Klopp said.
“I will feel better if we win the game and that is the only thing that worries me,” he added, after being pushed by the news that the duo of midfielder Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara are in a position to play.
The seventh heaven?
Anfield’s side can win their seventh European Cup, a record that would allow them to draw with AC Milan and leave only Real Madrid with more victories.
In fact, Madrid is looking to win its fifth Champions League in nine seasons and, ominously, has won in its last seven final appearances.
While Liverpool faced Inter Milan, Benfica and Villarreal in the knockout rounds, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real produced a series of memorable comebacks to beat Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and then Manchester. City.
“It is a great success for all of us to be here. We know the demands of this club very well, the history, but for us to get here is huge “, said the Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who last year was at the head of Everton, a local rival of Liverpool.
“We are convinced that the season has already been very, very good, but now we are very close to getting the big one.”
Liverpool look to have the strongest game on paper, with Alisson in goal, Virgil van Dijk directing his defense and Salah and Sadio Mane leading their attack.
However, Real are putting their hopes in Karim Benzema, the 34-year-old Frenchman who has scored 15 goals in the competition this season.
Real Madrid’s French striker Karim Benzema, left, reacts during a training session at the Stade de France [Javier Soriano/AFP]
Eyes on Benzema
Benzema has scored a total of 44 goals this season to lead Real to the Spanish title and is the favorite to win the Golden Ball.
“He is certainly one of the best players in the world, probably the best striker in the world, and I am sure he may be the most underrated player in history,” UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin told AFP on Friday. when asked. about Benzema.
“He now has more personality and leadership on and off the field, but what has not changed is his quality and he remains as humble as ever,” said Ancelotti, who won the 2014 Champions League with Real in his first stage as a coach.
Ancelotti may become the first coach to win the Champions League four times, having also won with AC Milan in 2003 and 2007; he currently has three wins with Zinedine Zidane and Bob Paisley.
Klopp dedicates the final to Ukraine
This will be the third final between the clubs, which also faced Paris in 1981, when the English won thanks to Alan Kennedy’s goal at the Parc des Princes.
This final, which will be refereed by the Frenchman Clement Turpin, will be played in Paris only after St. Petersburg was stripped of the party after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Klopp dedicated the final to the people of Ukraine, saying moving the final to Paris was “exactly the right message that Russia should receive.”
“The war is still going on and we have to think about it,” he said, before adding: “We play this final for all the people of Ukraine. I’m sure some people in Ukraine can still see it and we do it for you, 100 percent. “