Ancelotti’s side had come back from the dead so many times en route to the final but for once they didn’t need to in ParisIn every walk of life, there are people whose greatest gift is being the most confident person in the room. They succeed and you can never quite work out why. What is it they actually do? Is it anything beyond just looking the part? Real Madrid have just won the Champions League for the 14th time.It can’t just be luck. There has to be more to it than that. And yet in every game in the knockout phase of this Champions League, against Paris Saint-Germain, against Chelsea, against Manchester City, they have had fewer shots than...
The right-back switching off let Real Madrid in during the Champions League final but his style of play is vital to his sideAs the final whistle blew at the Stade de France Trent Alexander-Arnold was closest to the Madrid bench, swaying to one side as the white shirts came haring on, gripped with an entirely familiar delirium. At which point Alexander-Arnold just stopped.For the next five minutes, in the middle of the smoke, the pounding noise, the crackle of static across this vast craning bowl, he stood completely still at the edge of the centre circle, bent forward slightly as though in physical pain. Jürgen Klopp came across to offer a hug. A phalanx of photographers skirted past tactfully. Eventually,...
Colombian’s form, pace and freshness mean he deserves to start Liverpool’s Champions League final with Salah and ManéLiverpool v Real Madrid will be decided by the finest margins, so it is good news that Jürgen Klopp has one of the finest forward lines in Europe available to him. Whichever combination he picks would be top-class but I think he will select a front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Luis Díaz.Salah has unfinished business after being forced off early on with a shoulder injury the last time these teams met in a Champions League final in 2018. That will be a powerful influence on a player who, after a long season, needs to find a last bit of energy...
Keeper has saved Real Madrid at crucial times in Champions League campaign but believes role is harder than it wasAt the end of Tuesday’s session as Real Madrid began preparations for the Champions League final, a group of players gathered at one end of Valdebebas training ground and took turns rattling off shots, cheering the best and laughing at the worst. Standing in their way, also rotating, were three goalkeepers but Thibaut Courtois was not among them and maybe it was better that way. This is the man Carlo Ancelotti told to ease off in training for the good the team, joking: “I say to him: ‘You have to give our forwards more confidence because you always save every shot...
Mbappé staying in Paris has angered Real Madrid and La Liga but PSG argue the eye-watering numbers add up in their favourSo whose side are you on in the fallout following Kylian Mbappé’s decision to stay with Paris Saint-Germain? Watching the extraordinary outrage in Spain, with the press accusing the Frenchman of lacking class and La Liga branding the deal as “scandalous”, has raised eyebrows. But not as many as PSG being able to stump up a €200m-plus package for the world’s best player – despite making a €224m loss last year.There are no good guys here, only a gnawing unease that the laws of economic gravity are being defied to the further detriment of the game we love. As...