Real Madrid have every right to be confident against Liverpool
By David Gate
Liverpool fans are chippy as Real Madrid are showing confidence ahead of the Champions League final. But they have every right to be confident.
All the stories are coming out of Real Madrid being confident of beating Liverpool in the Champions League final on Saturday 26th May. Inevitably Liverpool fans have been chippy at the suggestion. However Real Madrid should feel like they are favorites and can beat the Reds.
This will be their fourth Champions League final in five years. They’ve won the previous three. That shouldn’t make you merely confident. It should make you unshakable. They have players and manager that have been there and won it. And then won it again. And then a third time.
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Liverpool have the experience of losing the Europa League final in 2016 but outside of that there is no big European final history to draw upon. The manager has been to this stage before in 2013 with Dortmund and lost.
Real are an elite European side. Liverpool have some pedigree of their own but are on the road back to the top. Until they win the big one again, that will remain a journey, not an arrival.
Other clubs than Real Madrid might be more magnanimous about Liverpool’s threat, but much of Real’s success in this competition has been based on extreme confidence. Few would say they have had the best squad over the last four years.
This is the team who believes themselves to be the biggest in the world, epitomized by Cristiano Ronaldo who believes himself to be the best player. Their confidence is inevitable and they deserve it.
However, Liverpool have plenty of their own reasons to confident. The best attack in the history of this competition means there will be no self-doubt among Jurgen Klopp’s squad. The three games where Liverpool have beaten Man City– arguably a better organized and fluid attacking force than Real Madrid – that they are the equal of any in Europe.
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I’m happy to let them talk. Let them proclaim how easily they will win. Let them crow about their superiority. Because that confidence is quickly becoming complacency. And if you underestimate the Reds – these flying, scoring, rapid Reds – then you will pay.