For Liverpool, it’s a game too far away. The number 63 of a season in which they played each and every one of those who opened them was intended to bring the finishing touch, the moment to outline the era of Jürgen Klopp.
There have been six trophies for the coach, two of them huge: the Champions League in 2019 and the Premier League the following season. But beating Real Madrid in an almost incredibly glamorous centrepiece to add a cup treble, with the League Cup and FA Cup already. In the closet – promised a new and rarer high.
Not be. On an afternoon when the start of the match was delayed for 36 minutes due to riots for Liverpool fans outside the stadium here in Paris, his team gave everything to face more than the mystique of Real, the response that the Spanish champions repeat like parrots. as they don’t lose those finals.
Standing in Real’s goal, Thibaut Courtois had a game in which he made exceptional saves from the first to the last, when he made Mohamed Salah howl in frustration, in particular. He expelled through Sergio Ramos. No there would be a scenario of revenge.
Salah saw Courtois produce a series of saves to keep him offside, three of them in the impressive Array with the most productive stored until the last. Salah’s touch to kill a high ball in the 82nd minute was sublime and, when he moved inside and shot, Liverpool’s hopes soared. Courtois would stretch to get past the post for the time being. There was also a stop on his part to deny Sadio Mane at the start of the race which, in many ways, set the tone, clinging to Liverpool’s belief.
The harsh reality that very few Liverpool players had reached their best. Perhaps it is because of the intellectual and physical exhaustion of a season like few others, which also involved a fruitless fight until the arrival at Manchester City for the Premier League title. Liverpool had lost only 3 of the last 62 games and one of them did not matter: the stretch of the last 16 games of this festival against Internazionale. This, Klopp’s third defeat in 4 Champions League finals as a coach, the first with Borussia Dortmund, cut them into their hearts.
Liverpool started brilliantly but were duped by the former masters, who arrived to dictate the speed at which they wanted the game to go. Vinícius Júnior struck the decisive blow shortly before the hour mark and, whatever Liverpool do afterwards, Courtois went his way.
Real Madrid had taken their chance in a crazy race for the knockout stages, but not here. It was an act of strength and balance that earned them a 14th European Cup in 17 appearances in the final. The last time they lost one in 1981 was enfrentaron. al Liverpool in Paris. Incredibly, it is the fifth triumph at the festival in nine seasons and, for Carlo Ancelotti, it added to a part of history: a record fourth fortune as a coach.
Pre-adjustment preparation had been chaotic, with the Liverpool team bus stuck in traffic at 7. 35pm. m. local time, less than 90 minutes before the start time; It would arrive five minutes later, and then was delayed, as thousands of Liverpool fans were closing the stadium in the open. Some of them said the government had closed one of the gates servicing their compound and there was anxiety as tensions rose and police fired. pepper spray.
It’s incredibly disturbing, with Gary Lineker tweeting that it’s “very damaging absolute carnage,” and reports of followers crammed into cramped spaces. The inevitable inquiry will make reading uncomfortable.
Klopp had looked for a competitive start and gave it to him, his team urged high, threw himself into challenges, dominated the ball; Salah and Mane showed their aim with sharp movements, especially between the lines.
Courtois pounced to his left to deny Salah after a flurry and a cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold before stretching to deflect Mane’s shot from the edge of the penalty area opposite the inside of his near the post. The ball would go past the line however, it would ignite it.
Real sat deeply, hoping to jump on the counter and, after Liverpool’s initial wave, nailed a foot with his game of short, quick passes. They were unfazed incredibly, thinking their time would come, and it almost happened in the 43rd minute when Karim Benzema made a top pass to the right on purpose and sneaked in with Alisson from close range.
When Benzema dived down the left, he lit the spark for Alisson and Ibrahima Konaté to get tangled. Federico Valverde ran to the loose ball, as did Fabinho and, when it broke, Benzema – who in an offside position – crashed into the house. How did it get there? If he had left Fabinho, Liverpool would have had a problem. The VAR considered that he had done it without realizing it, so the goal had to be ruled out. It’s incredibly difficult to unravel.
It seemed that Ancelotti’s full-back had Liverpool where he wanted, although he did not exactly separate them. With the Real, the concern is in what he has just done, what he would do. He did it when the fair Valverde broke for undercenter and Vinícius, timing his Alexander-Arnold race, had a tap-in.
Liverpool fought. Salah saw Courtois deflect a shot into the far corner, among his other saves, and there the moment substitute Naby Keïta needlessly lifted the crossbar. Casemiro threw a square pass with Vinícius and Benzema open in front of goal but Real – and Courtois – would keep the back door closed.