Liverpool football team. Photo: Reuters

LONDON: To Juergen Klopp, Saturday’s much-anticipated Champions League final will rest on whether Real Madrid’s drive to win their third successive title outstrips Liverpool’s desire for their first since 2005.

“They will want to do it again. It would be big 100 percent. If we did it, it would be big, too. We will try,” said Liverpool’s manager with an understatement at odds with his belief that his team will succeed.

The narrative of young pretenders challenging the established order appeals to Klopp, who made his name taking aim at Bayern Munich with Borussia Dortmund, but Liverpool are hardly ingenues when it comes to winning European titles.

Victory on Saturday would bring their sixth European Cup and reinforce their status as by far England’s most successful team in the competition. Predictably, advice from their legion of past winners has flowed all week.

To Steven Gerrard, hero of the 2005 win over AC Milan, they must simply seize the moment; to Alan Kennedy, who scored the goal which beat Real in the 1981 European Cup final it is about courage; to Kenny Dalglish, a three-times winner in 1978, 1981 and 1984 the secret lies in understanding how to react when the pressure bites.

With pedigree like that, Liverpool are rather more than cocky upstarts out to take a swipe at Real and it will be a surprise if Klopp does not keep faith with the free-flowing brand of football that has made them the competition’s leading scorers with 40 goals.

Porto, Manchester City and AS Roma were all blown away in the knockout stages with stunning first-leg performances that delivered 13 goals, most from their frontline trio of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, the Egyptian maestro whose 44 goals have spearheaded their season.

Liverpool tend to score in bursts, often in the first half, and if they seize the initiative on Saturday Real may struggle to play catch up against a team never so dangerous as when they defend.

But the English side are unlikely to have it their own way against the serial winners from Spain.

Another triumph would make Real the fourth team to claim three successive European crowns – and the only ones to do it twice – while Cristiano Ronaldo is hoping to become the first player in the Champions League era to win five titles, four with Real.

RECORD SCORER

Already the tournament’s record scorer, the five-times Ballon d’Or winner netted in every Champions League game this season before twice missing out in the 4-3 semi-final aggregate triumph over Bayern Munich when he struggled to assert himself.

While some viewed that as a blip, Graeme Souness, another of Liverpool’s European Cup winners, saw it as a sign of decline and suggested that Klopp should not construct a gameplan around a fading 33-year-old.

“He spends a lot of time on his bum now, complaining he’s been fouled, and plays the width of the box,” Souness wrote in the Sunday Times. “He’s still capable of great things but, like Real, nowhere near where he was even 12 months ago.”

Ronaldo’s double in Real’s quarter-final win over Juventus suggests Liverpool would do well not to write him off just yet and their promising but inexperienced fullbacks Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold will have to be at their sharpest to deal with his threat and that of Gareth Bale if he starts.

Marcelo, Real’s marauding left back, could prove equally key in a game where goals appear guaranteed.

So far this season Liverpool have never failed to impose themselves in Europe and their early defensive frailties which saw them squander a three-goal lead against Sevilla in the group stage appear to have been rectified by a new goalkeeper, Loris Karius, and the calming presence of the world’s most expensive defender, Virgil van Dijk.

Whether they will be sufficient to withstand the force of Europe’s most successful but ageing team is one of Saturday’s most intriguing sub-plots, as is Klopp’s ability to finally emerge a winner after five successive defeats in finals.

In reaching this far, Liverpool have overcome a series crippling injuries, the mid-season departure of star midfielder Philippe Coutinho and the still unexplained absence of Klopp’s assistant Zeljko Buvac.

To negotiate all that and end up with the biggest prize of all would assure them a place in Anfield’s bulging hall of fame. You can almost feel Klopp urging them on.

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South Africa’s captain AB de Villiers watches his shot during their fifth and final one-day international cricket match against India in Mumbai, India, October 25, 2015. Photo: Reuters

CAPE TOWN: South African talisman AB de Villiers announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on Wednesday, saying he was tired and wanted to step out while still at the top.

“After 114 test matches, 228 one day internationals and 78 T20 internationals it is time for others to take over. I’ve had my turn and to be honest I’m tired,” he said in a video message on Twitter and in a statement.

“This is a tough decision, I have thought long and hard about it and I’d like to retire while still playing decent cricket. After the fantastic series wins against India and Australia, now feels like the right time to step aside.

“It would not be right for me to pick and choose where, when and in what format I play for the Proteas. For me, in the green and gold, it must be everything or nothing,” he added.

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Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren during the press conference, at Anfield, Liverpool, Britain, on May 21, 2018. Photo: Reuters

Liverpool centre back Dejan Lovren says playing alongside Virgil van Dijk fills him with confidence as the pair prepare for the ultimate challenge of stopping Real Madrid’s famed forward line in Saturday’s Champions League final in Kiev.

They have forged a strong partnership since an injury to Joel Matip thrust them together at the heart of a Liverpool defence that began the season in a collective wobble.

The signing of Van Dijk for 75 million pounds ($100.61 million) changed all that and while 28 goals had been leaked in the 23 Premier League games before the Dutchman’s arrival, only 10 have been conceded in the 15 since.

Although introducing goalkeeper Loris Karius and left back Andy Robertson also played a part in tightening the defence, Van Dijk’s composure has radiated through the team.

“It is always good to receive quality and Virgil has definitely the quality,” said Lovren. “He helped the team to improve defensively and also to bring this calmness into the team.

“I feel personally much more confident when you know you have a really good partner next to you and he showed already at Southampton that he is one of the best defenders in the Premier League. It is great we didn’t take too much time to connect with each other in the games,” added the 28-year-old.

LAMPOONED

The memory of Lovren’s dispiriting performance against Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the season, when he was widely lampooned for a display that led to his substitution, has been replaced by the picture of a sure-footed defender prospering alongside his new partner.

“Usually it takes more but when you have the quality, you feel it in the team. We had quite good games this season,” said the Croat.

Liverpool have proved the big winner in twinning Lovren’s raw courage with Van Dijk’s pace and uncanny ability to read situations.

The pair were particularly effective against Manchester City over the two legs of the Champions League quarter-final, controlling English football’s sharpest attack with quiet effectiveness.

Given that Van Dijk, 26, has already coped with an acrimonious parting from Southampton and the scrutiny which comes with being the world’s most expensive defender, he seems able to handle anything this season can throw.

He is typically unfussed by the challenge of Real, who have scored 30 Champions League goals this season.

“It’s a one-off game. It’s 90 minutes. You never know what can happen, but we will be prepared for everything,” he said.

“We need to look at ourselves, we need to make sure we are ready, 100 percent, play how we want to play, defend how we want to defend, and we can make it difficult for everyone. We know Real Madrid is a top, top team.”

Van Dijk will be charged with stopping Cristiano Ronaldo, who is the competition’s top scorer with 15 goals this season and will be seeking to score in a fourth Champions League final.

“We know all about that man,” said Van Dijk, who appears unfazed by Real’s talisman.

“I don’t think about those things. I think about what we are going to do. What we will do as an attack, midfield and defence,” he said.

“It is the biggest game in club football. We know it is only one game. We want to give everything that we have in this game and hopefully that is enough.”

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