KLOPP’S REALITY CHECK
TODAY, LIVE ON SKY SPORTS, KO 4.30PM Gullit fires Madrid warning to Kop stars
Former Kop favourites Steven Gerrard, Mark Lawrenson and Steve Nicol have all hyped up their old club to beat the 12-time European champions in Kiev at the end of the month.
But, while Gullit is a big admirer of the awesome array of attacking talent that Jurgen Klopp (left) has at his disposal, he has warned that beautiful football will not be enough to prevail against Real.
Gullit, the brilliant attacking Dutch midfielder who was a two-time European Cup winner with AC Milan, saw enough defensive flaws during Liverpool’s 4-2 semi-final second-leg defeat at Roma to deliver a damning verdict on the Reds’ hopes of taming Madrid.
In fact, he feels that the Merseysiders got lucky – and reckons they would have been eliminated if UEFA had allowed VAR.
Gullit said: “If Liverpool are going to play like they did in Rome, they are not going to win the Champions League.
“It is fantastic to have them in the final, but everyone must realise that they only scraped through at the end.
“I have read the verdicts of some former Liverpool stars and they are euphoric. They are not impressed by Real Madrid. They think Liverpool have a serious chance of winning.
“But the players and coaching staff of Real will have watched Liverpool’s second game against Roma.
“And I think they will have drawn the strong conclusion that they have more of a chance to win the final than Liverpool.”
Gullit feels Liverpool – who celebrated reaching the final with a banner to fan Sean Cox, the 53-year-old dad who remains in hospital nearly a fortnight after being attacked outside the Kop, ahead of the semi-final first leg against Roma – have been carried to Kiev on a tide of Anfield emotion.
But Liverpool and Madrid have each been allocated 16,626 tickets for the final in the 63,000-capacity Olympic Stadium.
And Gullit (right) reckons the Reds will suffer if they attack the final like a home game.
He said: “I get the feeling that Liverpool are capable of massive performances at Anfield. But when they are not at home, the team is vulnerable. What I want to make clear is that the only thing the team can do right now is attack.
“Liverpool are brilliant in attacking, but that creates a weakness. And in international club football, you cannot attack at the tempo they play for 90 minutes. “A quality team like Liverpool have to learn to change the rhythm of the game and to finish matches ugly.” Gullit added: “Liverpool would have been out of the Champions League if the referee had spotted the handball by Trent Alexander-arnold and the foul by keeper Loris Karius on Edin Dzeko when the Roma striker was incorrectly given offside.
“If Roma had had a penalty and Liverpool were down to 10 men, their chances of survival would have been minimal.
“Liverpool took massive risks and I am glad that they survived.
“But their attacking football alone is not a guarantee for success.”