Win or lose, Klopp and Reds will do it their own way in Kiev

EARLIER this week, previewing tomorrow’s Champions League f inal against Real Madrid, Jurgen Klopp said: “We have to handle it like an opportunity because it is an opportunity”, before touching on the defining characteristic of his Liverpool side’s journey to Kiev.

“We will show the players why it makes so much sense to be brave,” he added. “It was not easy to be brave against Manchester City and against Roma, but we did it. The moment we tried to defend the result we were almost out.”

His point was clear. Whatever the result of Liverpool’s eighth European Cup f inal appearance, they will win or lose it their way. They will attack. They will “be brave”. By now, we should know not to expect any thing dif ferent.

Klopp and his players are capable of killing a game off. The f inal hour of the quarter-f inal f irst leg against City, when they prevented the best team in Europe from registering a single shot on target, was arguably more impressive than the opening half-hour in which they established a 3- 0 lead.

This Liverpool team was already known for an ability to produce short, devastating bursts of attacking play back then — they had done the ver y same to City just a few months earlier — but the mature and controlled way they shut City down that night at Anfield was something new.

Yet as their performance at the Stadio Olimpico three weeks ago demonstrated, building a lead comes more naturally to these players than protecting one.

No matter the scoreline, if Mohamed Salah has 40 yards of space to run into on the right, he will run into it. The entire midfield phalanx will usually push up in support, Trent Alexander-Arnold is of ten not far behind. This team has a bloodlust. They are most at home when on the hunt.

The worry for tomorrow’s f inal might be whether Klopp’s insistence on “being brave” crosses the line into stupidity, and whether such a relentlessly cavalier approach leaves Liverpool vulnerable to canny, tactically-astute opponents.

Fortunately, their opponents are Real Madrid, a team that seems just as unlikely to alter their game plan.

Under Zinedine Zidane’s stewardship, Madrid are a expansive, for ward-focused team that rarely set up to counteract specific threats. The ‘arrogance’ that comes with being the most successful club in the histor y of this competition almost allows them no other option but to do the same in Kiev. They will play on the front foot and tr y to strike f irst.

For Liverpool, that means there will be space. Much of Madrid’s attacking play relies on the contributions of f ull-backs Marcelo and Dani Carvajal, who invariably vacate acres of room in their own half while venturing for ward.

This is Madrid’s main defensive weakness and it is not one they will necessarily look to cover for. Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino should be afforded plenty of opportunities to exploit it.

Still, Klopp will need to contain a side that has scored a total of 148 goals this season — six more than his own players have managed. Liverpool’s midfield of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum were their best performers in Rome, though will need much more defensive support from the for ward line than they received that night.

Cristiano Ronaldo (right), meanwhile, must be relishing a far-post match up against either Andrew Robertson or Alexander-Arnold.

Both f ull-backs, still inexperienced at this level, will need to win each and ever y one of their battles against the Champions League’s all-time leading goalscorer to keep him quiet.

It seems possible, though, that Madrid’s approach will suit Liverpool’s, more so than if Jupp Heynckes’ Bayern Munich or Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona were waiting in the f inal. By sticking to his principles, Klopp may see his team tear strips off a Madrid side that attempts to take the initiative and, in doing so, over- commits in key areas.

What is certain is that Liverpool will attack and leave space for Madrid, so Madrid will attack and leave space for Liverpool. Like many of the other outings in this Champi-