Liverpool v Real Madrid: Mohamed Salah, the Madrid full-backs and Thiago Alcantara

My name is Akash Raval and I work for the PPC team within marketing at William Hill. I’ve decided to preview the Liverpool v Real Madrid Champions League final.

Ending the Champions League dreams of Premier League teams has become second nature to Real Madrid in the knockout stages of this season’s competition.

Chelsea were dumped out in the quarter-finals, with Manchester City following them in the last four. Now, Liverpool stand in the way of Madrid lifting a 14th title.

Karim Benzema was pivotal in both of those ties, bagging a hat-trick at Stamford Bridge and converting decisive penalties in both legs against City. Benzema is 28/1 to net a treble on Saturday, and 10/3 to open the scoring.

Liverpool and Real Madrid met in the Champions League last season, with Real winning 3-1 in Madrid after a goalless draw at Anfield.

Jurgen Klopp felt his side made it “too easy” for Madrid at the Bernabeu. Will they deliver a better performance in Paris? Here are three key areas they need to focus on.

Stop Real’s full-backs

Liverpool love to press. They win back the ball in high areas with lots of bodies committed forward. Then, they take advantage of the space as the opposition struggle to reset.

The role of the Liverpool wide players is to press opposing centre backs from out to in, shutting off a simple pass to the full-backs.

This limits the defender to passing back to their goalkeeper, booting the ball long or attempting to pass into central midfield, where Liverpool are waiting to win back the ball.

However, last time against Real they focused on stopping Toni Kroos and this allowed Madrid’s full-backs to bomb forward and create overloads.

As a result, Kroos dictated play and punished the Reds. Stopping Real’s full-backs making space for the German will be crucial to the final.

Learning from Man City

With 20 minutes to play in the second leg of their semi-final with Manchester City, Real made a tactical change that paid off.

Madrid introduced Rodrygo on the right and gave Dani Carvajal licence to attack at will. It left them open at the back, but Jack Grealish was unable to punish them.

In attack, the change gave Madrid a chance to double up on Oleksandr Zinchenko and eventually that pressure told. Rodrygo netted twice, the second from Carvajal’s cross.

Should Liverpool find themselves in a similar position in the final, it’s key that they react better to deny Madrid the chance to apply late pressure – which has been a familiar sight in this Champions League campaign.

If you fancy Rodrygo to pop up with another huge goal for Real, we have 15/4 on the Brazilian to score at any time in the 90 minutes.

Play Salah centrally

Midway through his time at Man Utd, Cristiano Ronaldo evolved from a winger who loved a stepover, to a more ruthless goalscoring machine. At least part of the reason was his lack of pressing and backtracking.

Salah is not always as diligent with his defensive runs as the likes of Sadio Mane or Luis Diaz. This is understandable as Liverpool want Salah higher up the pitch to make a difference and not back in his own half.

So, against Real, playing Salah centrally could prove key for two reasons. One, it keeps him in a dangerous position. And two, it means Liverpool’s forwards can provide more defensive support.

Backing Liverpool’s talisman to get his revenge on Real Madrid? Get 7/2 on Salah to score first in Paris. Get all the latest offers on the Champions League final at William Hill.

This article was written by an employee of William Hill but doesn’t necessarily reflect the opinions of William Hill LTD