Saturday’s Champions League final in Kiev promises to be that rare event, a meeting of outstanding teams that lives up to its billing, though the television trailer advertising that the contestants have 17 European Cups between them is economical with the truth.
The figure is correct; it is just that Liverpool’s total of five is dwarfed by the Spanish club’s dozen. Not many teams can make Liverpool feel inferior in Europe but Real Madrid can. The current holders of the trophy have a habit of making everyone feel inferior. No one else is in double figures. No one else has won back-to-back titles in either the original European Cup knockout format or the modern Champions League era.
Related: Rafael Benítez: ‘Liverpool can do it but they have to manage the pressure’
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