The Starting Line-Ups
Projected Real Madrid Starting Line-Up:
GK: Keylor Navas
Defenders: Dani Carvajal, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Marcelo
Midfielders: Marco Asensio, Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric
Forwards: Christiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema
It's to no one's surprise that Real Madrid have an embarrassment of riches in their lineups. Goalkeeper Keylor Navas has been frustratingly solid in his recent play, especially during their annual clash against the german giants Bayern Munich in the semi-finals. With their defense, the starting back four looks to stay the same for the final, with Carvajal projected to be fully fit before the final on the 26th of May. In the midfield, all looks the same with the exception of Casemiro. Lucas Vasquez has been getting a lot of playing time at that midfield spot, but since they are going against a furiously fast Liverpool squad, I'm thinking that he'll go with the more defensive-oriented Casemiro in a holding-midfield role. The forwards look to be the same as the semi-final, keep in mind that Real Madrid do tend to play Christiano as a lone striker and open up an extra mid-field spot from time to time.
Projected Liverpool Starting Line-Up:
GK: Loris Karius
Defenders: Andy Robertson, Virgil Van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders: James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson
Forwards: Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane
We've had this same lineup pretty much since late January/early-February, except for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain being out for the rest of the year and world cup with a knee ligament injury. Our quality does not match-up with Real Madrid's lineup whatsoever. Andy Robertson was playing at relegated Hull City last year, Virgil Van Dijk wasn't even getting regular playing time at Southampton last winter and Loris Karius has just come into form in the recent months. What we do lack in class, we make up with in form. We are absolutely ON FIRE. Since the addition of Dutch center-back Virgil Van Dijk, the team has really built-up a good chemistry. The center-backs seem to know what they're doing now, our fullbacks have been playing lock-down defense while charging up and down the pitch, our midfielders have been feeding our front three, and our front three...well it's better to just show you.
The Key Matchups
1. The Liverpool front three vs the whole Real Madrid team
The first thing Zidane will address when Real start to train for the final, which they most surely already have, is how the back four (or five if he plays Casemiro) will play the dynamic attacking three of Liverpool. If you've watched even five minutes of English football or Champions league football, then you have some sense of how impactful the Red's front three are. Just in the Champions league alone, the front three has scored a stunning 29 goals. Salah and Firmino have each contributed 10 goals, and Mane has scored 9 goals. Remember, they have only played in 12 games in the Champions League at this point. This prolific scoring is of no small part to Mohamed Salah and the class he has been able to play with all season long. And this is also due to the encredible chemistry the front three have developed. But don't let Salah's play overshadow his two running mates. Firmino's ability to be able to drop and distribute the ball to Mane & Salah has been the skeleton key to unlocking our entire offense. The way Firmino moves off the ball, the quality he has in attempting fancy passes that defenses don't anticipate has been monumental. He's a classic "stats doesn't summarize overall impact on the game" player. Then, Mane's pace allows him to get to spots that many players can't, and as a collective, the front three have the ability to switch positions and to keep a high level of fluidity amongst them. The entire Real Madrid team needs to be all hands on deck in order to deal with this deadly attack, as they come from every direction and can swarm you in an instant.
2. Liverpool centerbacks Van Dijk & Lovren vs Ronaldo
Liverpool has been a completely different team defensively since our acquisition of towering Dutchman Virgil Van Dijk in the January transfer window. Klopp's gegenpresing strategy was Liverpool's bread & butter, but we were also completely and utterly vulnerable on the back end. Former starting centerbacks Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan have been solid in terms of conventional defending, but since Liverpool press so high up on the pitch, the two were continuously caught flat-footed on opposing team's counter attacks. This led to a team that scored a lot of goals, and simultaneously gave up a lot of goals. The addition of Van Dijk put an end to that level of vulnerability. Virgil has been a tower defensively, seemingly getting to all of the available headers chucked into our box. He has also provided a much needed leadership boost to our back-line, when you watch our games, you can always see him commanding his troops to their spots. This has helped in our defensive confidence as well as defending set-pieces, but don't let that fool you, Liverpool are still pretty awful at defending set-pieces. Which is going to be crucial, as Real Madrid might be the best team in the world with free-kicks and corners. Going up against Ronaldo, Benzema, Isco, Bale, and Asensio, we will need every ounce of defensive play to be able to keep up with Real Madrid.
3. The Fullback Matchups
A glaring weakness of Real Madrid is their wing-defense. In the semi-finals, German youngster Joshua Kimmich created chance after chance on Bayern's right-wing. Carvajal was completely exposed and Kimmich pretty much had his way with him in both matches. Marcelo on the opposite side was a little bit more solid, as he is clearly still one of the best fullbacks in world football despite his advancing age. While this may seem great to a Liverpool fan (ie: me), it is still important to take a slice of humble pie as our fullbacks consist of Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold. One is a 19-year old and the other was playing at freaking Hull City last year. Nonetheless, the fullback matchups will be key as Liverpool's wing play from their fullbacks is very important to their offense, and Real Madrid's wing defense will be important to their respective defense.
4. Jordan Henderson vs the world class Real mid-field
Just like Virgil Van Dijk's leadership is important to Liverpool's back line, Jordan Henderson's (Liverpool Team Captain mind you) leadership in the middle of the pitch is just as important. He is Liverpool's respective "glue guy". He is the one who does all of the dirty work, barks orders, and gets the ball to the distributors to start the attack. How he deals with the pure class of the Real Madrid midfield will be vital to Liverpool holding their own. Following a clear theme in this article, Henderson will be tasked with dealing with the likes of Marco Asensio, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
Tactical Overviews
A favorite YouTube channel of mine called Tifo Football consistently makes informative and in-depth football tactics videos that explain the intricacies of certain coach's tactics so much more better than me. So with that being said, I will post both of Tifo's videos on Klopp's and Zidane's tactics and will base the majority of my analysis's off of his content. I highly suggest subscribing to him if you're a footy tactics nerd like me. Thanks, Tifo!
Jurgen Klopp:
As a fan of Klopp well before his Liverpool days, I saw a little of his very distinct and adrenaline pumping style of football. Sometimes called "gegenpressing" or "rock & roll football", it is a style of play that is fast-paced, based on counter-attacks, and takes advantage of the opposing team's mistakes. How Klopp achieves this utilizing something called counter-pressing and playing compactly in the middle of the pitch, thus filtering all ball movement by the opposing team on the perimeters. This is exactly why I highlighted the fullback matchups above, because the ability of Arnold and Robertson to press successfully and to bomb up and down the pitch is so important when utilizing this style of football. If the fullbacks can't successfully defend and move the ball on the wings, we are left with settling for back passes, and forces our mid-field players to be more involved with the ball than they need to. They are also vital in their ability to help swarm the wing attackers, forcing them to either pass forward over the fullbacks, or to back pass, in which Salah, Firmino and Mane excel in intercepting the ball. This is called the backwards counter-press, in which we not only get a jump on the defense as they aren't set, but it is the exact situation in which Salah excels in. The way he can dribble the ball around people, launch a dangerous ball into the box, or to simply score a goal from that position is important. That is something we were missing last year, as we would press and get in advantageous attacking positions, but we simply lacked the level of goal-scoring ability in our front-three.
Zinedine Zidane:
This next video is on how Real utilize their best defensive mid-fielder Casemiro in their formations. Casemiro's play is going to be Real Madrid's best chance at deciphering the continuous waves of attacks that Liverpool are going to throw at them. In the video, Real Madrid either play a traditional 4-3-3, 4-5-1, or as in their matchup with Bayern Munich, a 4-1-4-1 with Benzema coming up to play striker with Ronaldo at times. The way Real Madrid plays is highly dependent on the type of team they're playing against. They have multiple tactics, formations and lineups. From Tifo's video, when Real play Barcelona, they rely heavily on their 4-5-1 lineup, with Casemiro dropping off deeper at times to further shield their centerbacks. His ability to roam around the center of the pitch and to accurately pass to their attacking-oriented mid-fielders such as Modric and Kroos is their bread and butter. Casemiro takes care of their defense, while Modric and Kroos get to quarterback their offense with prying through balls to Ronaldo and any other attacking player. The only way this backfires on them is if they are facing wave after wave of attack. In their semi-final matchup with Bayern Munich, Kroos and Modric were forced to assume more defensive oriented roles as Casemiro was subbed off with a yellow card in the first leg, and that was how Bayern had a hefty seventeen shots on goal. The second leg was no different, as Casemiro did not get the start, and Bayern continued to slice up their defensively deficient mid-field. Zidane will most likely play his Brazilian defensive technician in the starting lineup, and will hope that he can keep up with the speed, pace and creativity of the Liverpool attack.
That about summarizes my totally unbiased and not one-sided review of this year's Champions League Final. Please pray for my sanity and blood pressure on May 26th!