What’s up, dude? The lives of Real Madrid and Liverpool will cross again in the second round of the Champions League after starring in the last final, with a win for the Whites (1-0) thanks to an unapproachable Courtois and an assist from Valverde, which was finished by Vinicius, the alliance that opened that evening in Paris and has continued producing this season. It will be the third confrontation between Whites and Reds in the last six editions and in all of them the Spanish team emerged victorious, to the torment of Mohamed Salah. Also in the 2018 final in Kyiv (3-1) and in the 2020/21 quarter-finals (3-1 in Valdebebas and 0-0 in Anfield).
Jurgen Klopp’s boys were one of Carlo Ancelotti’s two main rivals alongside PSG. They qualified second in a group dominated by Napoli, also leaders in Serie A. He assisted a 4-1 in Italy which he then maintained on the final day in England to put the Brits behind.
The tie also left another crossover: PSG-Bayern, two more taps before the first change. The French surprisingly fell back to second place with three goals in the sprint in the final quarter of an hour on goal difference to Benfica, who beat Maccabi Haifa 6-1 on the last matchday. Milan-Tottenham, Eintracht-Naples, Dortmund-Chelsea, Inter-Porto, Leipzig-Manchester City and Brugge-Benfica complete the table. The first legs will be played over two weeks (14-15 February and 21-22 February), as will the second legs (7-8 March and 14-15 March). The exact dates will be announced by UEFA later this Monday.
After a grueling past season that saw them just an inch from the two big crowns (premier for City and champion for Madrid), Liverpool haven’t flown this first part of the season. He is eighth in his league and already sees the title on the moon without reaching the World Cup break: 15 points behind Arsenal and 13 behind City. Fourth place, which gives access to the next Champions League, will also require a kidney blow: it is now seven points away.
In attack he lost Mané, selling him to Bayern for 32million and buying Darwin Núñez from Porto for 80, a swap that hasn’t worked out for Klopp at the moment. The Uruguayan doesn’t really fit into the German device. The attack continues to particularly affect Mohamed Salah, the man who has been out for revenge against Madrid since 2018. His fatal date with Sergio Ramos in the Kyiv final sent him to the infirmary, and since then he hasn’t hidden his desire to collect that episode. He tried in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, but the Whites eliminated them in the quarterfinals and last May they failed again in the final in Paris.
Ancelotti and the “Reds”
“In 2018 [tras perder la final]I didn’t know if we would go back. But now I know we will come back,” Klopp announced in the bowels of Saint Denis last May to boost the squad’s morale after the renewed blow to Madrid. A prediction that again goes through the whites. “It’s the easiest loss to explain. You scored one goal with one shot and we, who scored nine, none,” the German apparently added in full in Paris in the spring. It was the night of Courtois, immortal in front of the avalanche net, especially Salah. Nobody has embittered Liverpool more lately than Madrid, who oddly lost the last Champions League final to the Anfield team. It happened in 1981, also in Paris (1-0).
The appointment, with three months left, marks Ancelotti’s reunion with Liverpool, with whom he has a long history in top continental competition. When he was with Roma, he was unable to play in the 1984 European Cup final against the Reds due to injury (his side lost on penalties). In 2005 he failed at the helm of Milan in one of their most memorable finals (after leading 3-0 at half-time on penalties). Two years later, in another Milan-Liverpool, they won this time (2-0). And last season in Paris he emerged victorious again.
The clubs with the most European Cup finals (17 Whites and 10 Reds) meet again in a round of 16 that traverses four of the five great teams still alive. city was saved.
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