Five key player battles for Liverpool v Spurs in Champions League final
By David Gate
No.4 – Mohamed Salah v Jan Vertonghen
Poor old Jan has been run ragged by Salah on numerous occasions. It’s almost a tradition. Even when Liverpool were collapsing at Wembley in 2017 thanks to Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet, the Egyptian King still found time to turn the Belgian defender inside out and slot home.
He managed to out do that later on in the season in the 2-2 draw, turning him and two other defenders for one of his best goals for Liverpool. Then earlier this year he lost Vertonghen to set up the Alderweireld own goal.
Pochettino has been so concerned about Salah they’ve often played 5-4-1 against Liverpool. They’ve added Davison Sanchez to the lineup to help cope with Salah and Roberto Firmino.
It will be interesting to see if they do that again because they’ll have to drop Son do that and he is arguably their best player.
I think they will go with four at the back and keep Danny Rose locked back to help Vertonghen. That could work for them but will open up a channel for Firmino in the middle to dictate play. Jurgen Klopp would be happy with that.
It will also put even more pressure on what I think is the most crucial matchup in this entire game…