OPINION
When Liverpool line up against Real Madrid in the Champions League final next Saturday, many will expect the game to come down to a battle between two of Europe’s most potent attacking forces.
The Reds have a front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino which has trampled all in its path this season, with the trio scoring 90 goals between them in all competitions so far.
Real on the other hand have heavyweight players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale to call upon, with the more-than-able Isco, Marco Asensio and Lucas Vazquez also posing massive threats.
However, the potency of these attacks may end up cancelling each other out on the day, with both teams possessing the ability to score at any given moment.
The European showpiece may then boil down to defensive solidity, with both sides’ backlines having dodgy seasons in domestic football.
That assessment seems to have been confirmed by Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos who has been speaking to UEFA to preview the match, and while he name-dropped Salah, his blueprint suggests another Liverpool star will have to take centre-stage.
“We know they’re very tough opponents. They are very fast going forward and can really hurt you on the break. [Roberto] Firmino and [Mohamed] Salah are such quick and direct players who are very difficult to get hold of, so we’ll try to keep them under control and ensure they don’t have one of their inspired days, because they can certainly cause you damage.
“[Liverpool are] very good technically and are full of pace, but we’ll try to hurt them with our players who have similar attributes. We know we can also cause them problems on the counter. We’ll try to take advantage of that and we also know we are a threat from set pieces,” he said.
Before the arrival of Virgil van Dijk, 26, in a world-record £75million deal in January, the Reds were notoriously poor at defending set pieces under Jurgen Klopp.
That was an area that consistently let them down at the back, and the arrival of the Dutchman seems to have alleviated that problem for now.
Ramos seems to have recognised this residual weakness in Liverpool’s defence, while also talking up his side’s ability to create goals from such situations.
This seems to suggest that van Dijk will have the biggest part to play for Liverpool on Saturday, with his organisational and leadership skills massively important if the Reds want to keep Madrid at bay.
While you may be tempted to look to Salah or Ronaldo as the key men in this tie, van Dijk may therefore be just as important, if not more so, than his plaudit-hogging attacking counterparts.
He will have to play out of his skin to prevent Real realising Ramos’ plans, and if he does so then Liverpool will have a brilliant chance of lifting the trophy for a sixth time.
