Rome’s Stadio Olimpico. Wembley. Paris’ Parc des Princes. The Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. The Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. Five grounds occupy a special place in Liverpool’s history. They are the places they became champions of Europe: twice, in Rome’s case.
The last time Liverpool went to Madrid, they had gone seven years without silverware. Jurgen Klopp had lost two Champions League finals in that time. He was management’s most charismatic nearly man. He returns in the select band who have claimed the most coveted prize in club football and with a chance to find himself in still more rarefied company. Since Arrigo Sacchi in 1990, only one manager, Zinedine Zidane, has retained the trophy.
Liverpool’s 2019 triumph has been transformative. Other trophies have followed – the European Super Cup, the Club World Cup and, surely, the Premier League – along with the chance to become a team that defines an era, and not merely at Anfield.
It is not controversial to call them the best team in the world now and while Klopp has tipped Juventus to win the tournament, his prediction is based on the quantity of high-class players they have accumulated. Part of Liverpool’s prowess has always stemmed from the reality they are a team. Their reported interest in Timo Werner is instructive: the German forward is not a Galactico, but their arrivals rarely are. They buy to a plan.
It has tended to be a strength of Atletico Madrid’s as well. It has hardly felt that way this season; after spending some £220 million, they find themselves 13 points off the pace in La Liga and behind Getafe. Yet there are similarities between the clubs and not merely because Klopp and Diego Simeone were runners-up in the Champions League four times in six seasons, punching above their respective employers’ financial weight without supplying the final knockout blow.
Gini Wijnaldum summed it up best. “They are a lot like us, fighters,” the Liverpool midfielder said. A shared style of play means it could be frenetic. A common commitment to defensive excellence – and this is the ninth consecutive season when Atletico are conceding well under a goal a game on average in La Liga – suggests it will be tight. Joe Gomez, a reason why Liverpool have only let in one goal in 11 Premier League matches, said they will adopt an underdog mentality, but that has long been Simeone’s approach as well. Few sides have exhibited such hunger so consistently.
Liverpool’s stunning season shows they have used success as a springboard, not a reason to relax. They are pursuing a rare double. Even Real Madrid have only won the European Cup and the Spanish title in the same season twice since 1958.
It is harder to fight on multiple fronts and the age when the Champions League is flooded with teams from the top leagues is notable for the scarcity of repeated triumphs. Past glories can count for little. Gomez phrased it well. “The competition resets itself each year for a reason,” said the defender.
Liverpool are showing a reluctance to hark back even to the recent past. Jordan Henderson, whose tearful celebrations with his father Brian on Liverpool’s last visit to the Wanda Metropolitano became iconic, said he has not watched the game back “for a long time.”
There are other grounds not to review the footage – their 2-0 win over Tottenham was a dreadful game, though no one at Anfield complained – but the focus has been on the immediate future. Liverpool made history on their last trip to Madrid but now Atletico are the first of four high-class opponents to overcome if they are to make more.
