KOP’S REAL TEST
Klopp’s men out to avenge 2018 agony
WHEN Liverpool last faced Real Madrid, the defeat inspired them to go on and become kings of Europe and champions of England in the following two seasons.
Now the Reds will be hoping this meeting with the Spanish giants can help save the current campaign.
Victory over two legs in the Champions League quarter-finals will put them within touching distance of a seventh European Cup.
And that would keep their stunning rise from that night back in 2018 going.
Often the words after a final defeat can be hollow.
But when Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson stood in the bowels of Kiev’s Olympiyskiy Stadium almost three years ago and spoke with the media, it would end up being a prophecy.
“I believe in this team,” said Henderson after the 3-1 defeat which featured a couple of howlers from keeper Loris Karius. “I believe we are going in the right direction.
“It is so difficult to stand here now and say that, but that is the truth, it is how I feel. We have to make it happen.
“I believe we will be back in a Champions League final.”
Henderson lifted the European Cup 12 months later and another year on from that he became the first Liverpool captain to raise the Premier League trophy, ending 30 years without winning the title.
That night in Kiev stirred something in Liverpool. The Kop giants didn’t want to feel final pain again.
They had been hurt by a shoulder injury to Mo Salah after Sergio Ramos brutally brought him down in the first half.
The defender is the one out injured this time but it will still be a chance for the Egyptian to show what he could have done against the La Liga side if his 2018 final had not been ended early.
Despite Liverpool’s rise, they arrive in Spain during a season to forget so far.
They have a stronger squad now but they have been ravaged by injuries this term which means there will be no Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez or Joel Matip for the first leg tonight.
Failure in this tie would mean the campaign will be without silverware after a timid defence of their Premier League crown.
It would be a first sign of regression after years on an upward trajectory under Jurgen Klopp.
But Real boss Zinedine Zidane has warned Liverpool his side are fighting to prove their doubters wrong.
Real struggled at the start of the season but have cut Atletico Madrid’s lead at the top of La Liga to just three points and are the only Spanish side left in the Champions League.
Zidane said: “What is said, we can’t change all of that. What we can do is our jobs every day.
“But through history, this team turns around the things that have been said.
“We never give up on things, never. While there is a chance we always fight.
“We have had difficult moments, now we are in a good moment, though it doesn’t mean anything. We have to keep on fighting and compete.”