ZIDANE: REAL MADRID ARE ‘HUNGRY’ TO CLAIM TREBLE
▶ Primera Liga side’s manager warns Liverpool they are fully focused for Saturday’s Uefa Champions League final clash in Kiev
Zinedine Zidane has told Liverpool his Real Madrid team are hungrier than ever to win the Uefa Champions League as they seek to become the first club in 42 years to win the competition three years in a row on Saturday.
Bayern Munich in 1976 were the last side to complete a hat-trick of successive titles when the competition was known as the European Cup.
Zidane warned Liverpool that just because Madrid have won the tournament the past two years, and three times in the past four years, does not mean they will be taking anything for granted when they take to the field at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Ukraine’s capital Kiev on Saturday evening.
“No one can tell us we are less hungry,” Zidane said in a news conference yesterday after his team had completed a public training session.
“I can’t speak for our opponents but we want to stress we will always have the same motivation, the same as always, no one can tell us we are less hungry than the rest.
“We are Madrid and despite what we have, we always want more, and we will give everything to get even better.”
Madrid’s experience at the deep end of the Champions League dwarfs that of the Liverpool team, who do not have a single player to have previously made it this far.
Zidane also has his own personal achievements to draw upon, having won the most coveted prize in club football three times as a player and manager combined.
“It’s true I lived 18 years as a player inside the changing room, with many coaches, with many players, with just as much ego as me,” Zidane, 45, said.
“I know the changing room and I know the mind of a player and that is an important thing for me, but it is not the only thing.
“I am not the best tactician, but I have other things – passion, motivation – and those are worth much more.”
This weekend’s showdown has been built up in some quarters as a contest between Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. When asked if he would swap Ronaldo for the Liverpool forward, Zidane simply replied: “No.”
On Ronaldo’s influence on the final, Zidane said: “The most possible. He is the best so it will be the maximum.”
Zidane would offer no clues as to his starting line-up in Kiev but he did ackowledge the excellent form of Gareth Bale, who has scored five goals in his last four starts.
“He is playing very well, he has scored many goals recently,” Zidane said. “Not only that but he has been very consistent.
“He has not played so much, but the last three games he has played he has played well.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Sadio Mane has promised that he and his teammates will not be overawed when they go up against Madrid. “Maybe that is a surprise for many people but for us it’s something we have always believed in,” Mane said of Liverpool, who finished fourth in the Premier League, qualifying for the final.
“Of course it will not be easy because we know they have experience and also they have qualities in the team. We respect them a lot but we also have players and staff to beat any team in the world.”