CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
Real chief moaned they don’t play Reds enough but clash is danger for both
“IN football, we’ve only played Liverpool nine times in 67 years,” bleated Real Madrid president Florentino Perez last month.
Well, that has been sorted for you, mate.
When the Champions League and Europa League knockout fixtures kick off next February, it will be a European Super League Lite – and Liverpool against Real will be the headline act.
This is the fixture Perez wants to see as the staple diet for global fans, this is the fixture that John W Henry wanted to be an annual event so that his ownership group could milk the world market for even more money.
But this is the fixture that both these clubs would have wanted to avoid.
And while they have their own business to attend to – a contest with RB Leipzig – both the Liverpool-Real Madrid fixture and the Paris SaintGermain v Bayern Munich showdown will have raised optimistic eyebrows at Manchester City.
Two serious superpowers are guaranteed casualties at the last-16 stage of the Champions League.
But that is a small side-issue, because Liverpool’s dates with Real are standalone epic events because, ironically, they are relatively rare, as Perez pointed out.
Between them, these two clubs have won 20 European Cups but, again as Perez flagged up, have met on only nine occasions.
Liverpool have not beaten the Spanish giants in any of their past six meetings, losing five and drawing once. Their most recent defeat, of course, came in last season’s Champions League final, courtesy of that Vinicius Junior goal.
But that was at the end of a truly gruelling campaign for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who had just seen City clinch the title on a dramatic last day of the Premier League season.
On current form, Madrid would probably be favourites. They are unbeaten in La Liga, having won 10 and drawn two of their 12 fixtures.
Liverpool’s victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was only their fifth Premier League victory in a stuttering 13-match start to the domestic campaign.
But Mohamed Salah, below, is back in the scoring groove and will have a month off, thanks to Egypt not qualifying for the World Cup. While a lot can happen between now and the middle of February, Liverpool should also have key players such as Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota fit again. History, though, does favour Real – their May win over Klopp’s team in Paris followed a 3-1 victory over the Reds in Kyiv at the 2018 final. Having won their group, Real also have the advantage of playing the home leg second, although the atmosphere at Anfield for the first tie is bound to be electric.
And Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti has the edge over Klopp, winning five of their 11 meetings.
The German has three victories over Ancelotti with the other three ending as draws.
But one thing is for sure – there has to be a winner after two legs early next year.
And for one fabled club, it will be the end of this season’s Champions League road.