1 major concern for Real Madrid, Liverpool ahead of UCL final
Saturday’s Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool promises to be a battle of contrasting styles. Los Blancos are a methodical group who rely on individual heroics, while the Reds follow a team-oriented system that emphasises sacrifice.
Each approach has its shortcomings. Madrid is sometimes too dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring, and Liverpool is known to power down in the final 15 minutes of matches due to its exhausting pursuit of the football.
Neither side has looked particularly convincing en route to Kyiv, with Madrid nearly blowing a 3-0 aggregate lead to Juventus and Liverpool conceding unnecessary goals to Roma.
Here’s a look at each side’s biggest concern:
Exploiting Marcelo’s blindspot
Zinedine Zidane has a lot of confidence in his players – he’s resisted the temptation to bolster his squad in consecutive transfer windows – and perhaps none more so than Marcelo. Despite playing in a more limited position, the Brazilian left-back is allowed to roam free, join the attack, and score goals.
“He’s a top player with a lot of experience. He’s won pretty much everything there is to win in football and he’s a cornerstone of the Real Madrid team,” Zidane said recently.
While modern-day football often cries for a marauding full-back of Marcelo’s quality, his ambitiousness can come at a cost. When he is caught high up the pitch, opponents can exploit the space he leaves behind. And there is no one better suited to accept the invitation than Mohamed Salah.
Related: UCL final marquee matchup: Salah’s trickery vs. Marcelo’s positioning
The speedy Egyptian routinely got the best of Marcelo when the two faced off in the Champions League in 2016. Salah was playing for Roma at the time and was nowhere near the clinical inside-forward that he is today. But he still beat Marcelo in foot races, and on some of Salah’s forays into the attacking third, the left-back was nowhere to be seen.
Salah made Aleksandar Kolarov pay for taking similar gambles in the first leg of last month’s semi-final tie against Roma. A pair of perfect passes sprung Salah free as the Serbian international scrambled to get back into position, and Liverpool scored twice. The Giallorossi played a high line on that day as well – something Madrid has tried and failed to do in both the Champions League and La Liga this season – so Los Blancos should be wary.
Taking away Liverpool’s trump card
What manager Jurgen Klopp has achieved with such a utilitarian midfield is stunning. Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, and James Milner have combined for great success, pressing on cue to retrieve possession and unsettle the opponent. But on an individual basis, they pale in comparison to Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Toni Kroos. If Zidane adds a fourth midfielder into the mix – namely Isco – there’s a real sense that Madrid will overrun Liverpool in the middle of the park.
Another big difference between Madrid and Liverpool’s previous opponents is that Zidane doesn’t encourage the kind of open football that the Reds thrive on. He likes his team to be more deliberate in the build-up. There’s not the same urgency as Klopp’s Gegenpressing and less probability of error. Madrid takes a more balanced approach to football: Modric reads the pitch for answers, Casemiro acts as the equaliser, Kroos slows down the tempo, and Isco invades space.
Related: UCL final marquee matchup: Can Henderson tame Isco’s wobbly wizardry?
By dictating the rhythm of the game and lessening the margin of error, Madrid’s midfielders can weaken the efficiency of Liverpool’s press and allow star players like Ronaldo the time to express themselves.
Zidane’s squad is also strong enough to absorb blow after blow before striking on a counter-attack of its own. With a narrower formation than most, Madrid usually clogs up the centre of the pitch, making it difficult for teams to find a breakthrough. And Liverpool has struggled mightily this season against opponents that sit back, dropping points in matches in which it dominated possession. Zidane could frustrate the Merseyside outfit by refusing the invitation to play expansive football.
If Madrid wins a third Champions League in a row, no one will remember if it was pretty or not.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images)
