Relaxed Liverpool can triumph
Damian Stack looks at some of the stories making backpage news over the past seven days
EVEN being fully cognisant of the fact that what you’re seeing is what they want you to see, it’s been oddly comforting from a Liverpool fan’s point of view to follow the build up to the Champions League Final through the club’s various social media channels.
The daily behind the scenes images from the team’s training camp in Marbella present a picture of a happy and exceptionally relaxed bunch of footballers. One big happy blood red family.
There’s a smiling Georginio Wijnaldum on his way to the session. There’s big Virgil Van Dijk joshing with his buddy Andy Robertson. There’s Bobby Firmino the picture of contentment sitting back during a break in play.
All of this overseen by a benevolent Jürgen Klopp with his thousand watt smile and seemingly permanent grin. You’d never for a moment think that Liverpool were under massive pressure to deliver a major piece of silverware and, make no mistake about it, they are under massive pressure to deliver.
Liverpool’s entire season rides on this game. Tottenham’s does too, of course, but there’s a definite feeling that Spurs are in bonus territory, while Liverpool’s need for something tangible to show for a season of exceptional quality is overriding.
The fear is – not assuaged totally by the images from Marbella – that the pressure of that could get to them against a very decent Spurs side, a side who are closer to Liverpool than the league table and head-to-head record might suggest.
Even so there’s a very big reason why Liverpool might have reason to be relaxed about this weekend’s final – they’ve been there before. They know what it’s all about. Nothing about the build-up to the match, in the weeks preceding and on the day itself, will come as a surprise to them,
The rhythms of the build up to a big European final are familiar to Liverpool – it’s their third in four seasons – while it’s Spurs’ first European final in over thirty years (they haven’t even been in a domestic final in over a decade). That has to count for something.
Will it count for enough to get Liverpool over the line? It should do. This is Klopp’s third Champions League final, it’s Mauricio Pochetino’s first. Against that Klopp’s record in finals is two played two lost, but his sides have always been competitive... as underdogs.
This time around Liverpool are the favourites. How that sits with them – as relaxed as the social media would have you believe or a little more nervy – will probably decide the outcome of this final. It’s there for them.