Not even three years have passed since Liverpool’s first return to the top of European football in a decade and yet it feels like a completely different time, and not only because of the full and rowdy stadium.
This was the pinnacle of Liverpool’s first phase under Jürgen Klopp. The German came in and taught the Reds his pressing system and, bit by bit, they built a team capable of challenging for honours.
Roberto Firmino was converted from an underused attacking midfielder into a world class false nine; Jordan Henderson adapted from being a box-to-box midfielder to covering behind two others at the base of the midfield; Georginio Wijnaldum was brought in as an attacking midfielder from Newcastle and turned into a disciplined central midfielder. Sadio Mané joined the frontline in 2017 and Mohamed Salah was added the following year, improving on the Senegalese’s role as goalscorer on the right and freeing him up to act as a creator on the left. Andy Robertson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were brought in at the same time as Salah but were slowly bled into the side, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was brought up out of the academy, so that by the time Virgil van Dijk was signed in January Liverpool had the makings of a good side. They provided a taste of things to come two weeks after Van Dijk’s signing when they handed Manchester City’s Centurions their first defeat of the season.
Liverpool would finish some 25 points behind City in the league, having already fallen well behind in the first half of the season, however everything clicked in Europe as they hit the knockout stages. They thrashed Porto in Porto, then beat Manchester City 5-1 over two legs to set up a manic semi-final with Roma, where Liverpool demolished them in the first leg only to sneak through by just one goal – albeit Roma’s comeback coming too late to really scare Liverpool. This was the breathless, end-to-end, heavy metal football Liverpool were promised by bringing in Klopp, blowing teams out of the water before they could even get a grip on the game.
If there was any team that was unlikely to fold under the pressure it was Real Madrid though. The opposing finalists had won the previous two Champions Leagues, making them the first team since the European Cup’s rebranding to win the trophy back-to-back, and three of the previous four, winning their tenth European Cup in 2013-14. Despite its success, this side was not considered great, with club legend Zinedine Zidane harshly considered rudimentary tactically, trading on the brilliance of his world class players rather than his coaching. To put it simply, this was a team that did what it took to win.
For the most part, Madrid’s team picked itself. You had Sergio Ramos, who had been the world’s best defender for years prior, partnering Raphaël Varane, who had developed into a top class – and much more palatable – player himself, now guaranteed a spot in the starting eleven as Pepe left for Besiktas. Providing width on the left was the flamboyant Marcelo and, on the right, the marauding Dani Carvajal.
Behind them was Keylor Navas in goal, who was never really given the respect deserved by the Madrid hierarchy. Signed as a back-up from Levante, he secured a starting spot as Iker Casillas’ career wound down, then was used as a bit-part in a failed deal for David de Gea, only to lose his place to a struggling Thibaut Courtois before finally packing his bags for Paris Saint-Germain. The Costa Rican was a dependable goalkeeper for Real despite only ever seemingly being seen as a stopgap: an excellent shot-stopper, possessing the athleticism to leap around to make up for his relative lack of height.
Toni Kroos and Luka Modric had both sat in front of the defence for several years, but, as converted number tens, they were often found lacking defensively. Casemiro lacked their creative talents yet could be relied upon to cover for them and the full-backs defensively. Diego Simeone recognised the Brazilian as “for the balance of the team… [Real Madrid’s] most important player … He has changed the face of Madrid” while Marcelo claimed “He saved my life. I might play until I’m 45 with this guy by my side.“
They were all built to supply Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of them. As he aged – but also as he seemed more and more to consider his career a one-on-one competition with Lionel Messi – the Portuguese developed away from the creative player signed from Manchester United into a barely-human goalscoring machine. There would still be the odd dribble or screamer, yet more and more Ronaldo’s game became about being in the right place at the right time to add another to his tally. The entire game of Karim Benzema, who had arrived in Madrid with an excellent goalscoring record at Lyon, became all about opening up space for his more illustrious teammate, making runs to drag away opponents rather than to get into a goalscoring position himself.
The major debate of the previous few years had been over who should be the eleventh man: Gareth Bale or Isco? At first glance, the Welshman was the more evidently talented – all blockbuster runs and spectacular goals – yet many preferred the subtler Isco, whose jinking dribbling and knitting together of play was more in keeping with the technical style now associated with Spanish football.
It wasn’t just the players themselves but the effect they had on the team too. The more explosive style of Bale put him in competition with Ronaldo to provide an end product rather than supplementing him, whereas Isco’s had the Spaniard as more of a supplier to Madrid’s star.
Even for those behind the attacking line, Isco made things simpler. With Bale, Madrid had three attackers making forward runs, away from the ball, opening up a large gap between them and the midfield. With Isco, whether playing in a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-1-2, he could drop back to link play between the midfield and attack, making it easier to progress the ball. Bale might have been the Galactico, more likely to come up with a spectacular goal out of nothing, yet Isco was the better choice to actually control the 90 minutes. For the final, Zidane opted for Isco.
Liverpool’s line-up largely picked itself too. Still at the beginning of their development, they didn’t have any real strength in depth. Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius had both vied for the starting role of goalkeeper over the course of the season, yet by May Karius was the clear starter, playing well despite still not being completely convincing – he made major errors against both Manchester City and Roma in the run to the final, which could have proved costly but went unpunished thanks to poor refereeing, and had let in easy goals against Bournemouth and City in the league.
Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez shared the right back spot early on however an ankle injury curtailed Gomez’s season, while Joël Matip was also ruled out through injury, although this was prior to his Liverpool renaissance anyway, with Dejan Lovren considered solidly first choice alongside Van Dijk. Oxlade-Chamberlain broke through into the first team brilliantly during Liverpool’s run to the final, but succumbed to injury against Roma. Emre Can and Adam Lallana were both fit enough to make the final, but were returning from injuries, making James Milner the obvious choice to line up alongside first choice Henderson and Wijnaldum in midfield.
Real Madrid may have been favourites, yet Liverpool had been bombastic enough on their route to the final to convince many they could add a side that had won trophies but not hearts or minds to their defeated opponents. They also had the overwhelming majority of the crowd behind them.
Having already won two on the trot, many Madrid fans forewent UEFA’s routine nonsense and simply didn’t make the trip. On the complete opposite side of the continent, Kyiv was hard to get to and many supporters who had gambled on making the final earlier in the season found their hotel rooms cancelled once the owners realised they stood to make several times more if they bailed on their original agreement. With flights also cancelled, many supporters with tickets found themselves unable to make the trip, and even those who could might have to sneak into hotel rooms to kip on the floor with everything else fully booked. Many locals put in great effort to make up for it, even offering supporters places to sleep, but it was a generally unwelcoming experience, from the hotels to the metro to (certain) taxi drivers – few supporters who made the trip are likely to want to return for a holiday, even with the cheap beer.
You couldn’t exactly blame the locals for not getting into the party mood though. Ukraine was (and still is) quite literally a war-torn country, and was when UEFA selected Kyiv for the final in 2016. Police were more understanding and restrained with supporters than many of their Western European counterparts usually are, but a short walk from the fan zone on Khreschatyk Street was Independence Square, where protesters were slaughtered in 2014. The shocking number of locals missing limbs was a stark reminder of just what an absurd setting it was for a load of football supporters to get drunk and sing. Local businesses filled their pockets and many young people soaked in the atmosphere, yet it wasn’t surprising many others were unamused.
This mess benefited Liverpool. The batch of tickets intended for locals were easily snapped up, but Madrid’s avoidance meant large chunks of their section were taken up by Liverpool supporters too. Real’s supporter base isn’t exactly the most boisterous at the best of times and even those that do make noise spent most of the pre-match and opening of the game fighting amongst themselves in the section behind the goal rather than supporting the team.
Unsurprisingly then it was Liverpool that opened the game on the front foot. They didn’t press high most of the time, rarely pressuring Navas and often showing a willingness to drop off that would become the standard in later seasons, yet they defended with intensity, giving Real no time on the ball once they knew they had them trapped.
Once they recovered the ball, they gave Real no time to respond by immediately springing forward to attack at speed. Every time Madrid lost the ball they were left scrambling to get back as Liverpool attacked, conceding nine shots in the first thirty minutes.
All hands on deck were called to deal with the problem. It was normal for Kroos to drop back to the left of the defence anyway, but Modric, Casemiro and even Isco regularly dropped deep too, while Marcelo and Carvajal didn’t overlap and Benzema would drop off to receive passes in behind Liverpool’s midfield. To play around Liverpool’s pressure, Real pulled back the majority of their team to outnumber them, however this meant that there was only ever a handful of players available to actually attack. After initially struggling to keep hold of the ball, Real were now dominating possession, yet it was sterile possession – maintaining the ball but without it going anywhere.
They did have some joy advancing down the left, where Ramos chipped the ball over the press a few times, and Isco and Benzema made runs wide to overload the flank, yet they would still find themselves trapped against the touchline by Liverpool rather than threatening.
While these changes didn’t allow Real to dominate, they did stop Liverpool from dominating. Liverpool found it harder to claim the ball from Madrid, and even when they did, Madrid were in a better position to defend with more players back.
Isco would often stick to Henderson at first as Liverpool tried to play out, but he would drop back into midfield alongside Kroos and Modric as Liverpool moved forward, while Casemiro would drop into the backline to fill any gaps that opened up and deal with the problem of Firmino’s movement.
It was around the time that Salah went off injured that Real began to take control of the match. Liverpool had been looking to get the ball to the Egyptian every time they won possession, so with his removal the Reds lost the focal point of their attack. Liverpool’s pressing had already dropped due to Real Madrid flooding the area with players, however it nosedived as Adam Lallana replaced Salah, often appearing more like a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 rather than a 4-3-3 as the wingers dropped back into midfield.
With Liverpool no longer jumping on every little mistake by Madrid, the reigning champions began to be able to push forward, with Modric and the two full-backs all starting to venture into attack.
Liverpool began to press once again at the start of the second half, yet soon fell behind after Karius – later determined to be concussed likely from a blow to the head just minutes earlier – came out to sweep up an easy ball in behind, then rolled out the ball straight onto Benzema’s foot. The Frenchman’s comical interception rolled into the net to give Madrid the lead. The incident was freakish, but, even when healthy, Karius had a tendency to distribute the ball too quickly or into dangerous areas.
Liverpool pulled a goal back from a corner not long after though. Lovren found it easy to evade the marking of Casemiro, who never got near him as he pulled away from the front of the pack waiting around the penalty spot to the back. The Croatian headed the cross towards goal and Mané diverted it into the net just in front of the diving Navas.
On 61 minutes, Zidane went for the other side of the debate, replacing Isco with Bale. Isco had roamed across the pitch, whereas Bale was now part of the attack in a more rigid 4-3-3 shape. Two minutes later Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo were all waiting three-on-three with Robertson, Van Dijk and Lovren in the box as Marcelo cut in onto his right foot to cross. There was no element of movement or overload in creating what happened next – in fact, Bale began a run towards the near post only to find Marcelo’s cross behind him and the other attackers, and so threw his leg up into the air to score a spectacular overhead kick.
The goalless first half had seen distinct periods of Liverpool and Madrid dominance, yet it was the more even period at the start of the second that saw three goals.
Having retaken the lead, Madrid now did a better job of holding onto it. With Liverpool needing a goal in the remaining 25 minutes, Madrid held onto possession, forcing Liverpool into chasing them, then prodding the ball through to the forwards when Liverpool had been dragged out.
They sealed their win through a mixture of the previous two goals: a long distance drive from Bale that Karius inexplicably let in. With the ball going straight at him, it was arguably harder for Karius to let the shot in than save it. He not only had both of his hands behind the ball but, if he let the shot slip through his fingers, his face was in the way to save it, yet somehow the ball managed to glide off his hands, diverting it away from him into the net.
Unable to get the ball off of Madrid, Liverpool were unable to create chances to start a comeback. “It felt as though they were just toying with us,” said Alexander-Arnold. “We couldn’t get the ball; we weren’t creating chances. It was almost as if we knew we weren’t going to score another two goals. Modric, Kroos and Isco were just toying with us. They were almost mocking us, the way they were keeping the ball.
A year later, whereas Real had collapsed, Liverpool were lifting up the trophy themselves in Madrid, having calmly killed off Tottenham’s attempts to get back into the final after Liverpool had taken an early lead. Although still capable of overwhelming the opposition with pressure, Liverpool were no longer the all-action side of a year earlier, willing to sit off in a mid-block and wait for the opposition. This was phase two of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool and they now had much more in common with that Real Madrid side who spoiled the finale of phase one, doing what it takes to win even if it didn’t win hearts or minds.
If you enjoy these posts, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a one-off donation. For just $2.99, you can get access to premium videos and training sessions.
No responses yet