Get set for the grand finale
The curtain comes down on the 2017-18 soccer season on Saturday night.
Zinedine Zidane versus Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah against Cristiano Ronaldo that’s the story of Liverpool and Real Madrid in Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final in the Ukraine.
Whatever way you view the last major game of the season, there are a myriad of mouth-watering options to look ahead too, starting with the pedigree of the two finalists.
Real Madrid have won 12 European titles, unmatched by any other side, and are the undisputed kings of continental club competition looking to make it a trio of successive titles.
Bayern Munich were the last team to win the tournament three times in a row from 1974 to 1976.
But Liverpool, with five titles, have an impressive record of their own.
Coach Zidane has had an unprecedented career as both a player and coach, and made the Champions League almost his own with victories both on the pitch and off the bench.
Liverpool coach Klopp has an unlucky history of defeat in cup finals, but that will be no factor in his planning for the game as the Reds are expected to stick with their trademark attacking approach in their first Champions League final for 11 years.
“If I was to ask the boys, ‘What do you want to do in this game?’ they would say, ‘What we always did’. I am pretty sure that would be the answer,” said Klopp in the build-up to Saturday’s final.
“In football you always have to try to create a plan to deny the qualities of an opponent, but you also have to bring through your own qualities. If we would only think about trying to deny their qualities, that would be quite difficult.
“It’s not that we go there, run like crazy and have no clue how to defend, it won’t be like that. But we will play our football and hopefully at the highest level.”
As for Salah against CR7, Klopp is right to say: “Mo played a fantastic season but Cristiano has played 15 seasons like this. He has scored something like 47,000 goals - crazy numbers.”
But all the statistics and longevity at the top will make little difference if no magic is produced on the night. As TAB soccer punters well know, that is what will ultimately prove the difference in an absorbing match.
Real are probably the slicker all-round team and vastly more experienced in this situation.