The final of Europe’s elite club competition promises to be a high-quality affair on Saturday, May 28 in Paris, when Real Madrid and Liverpool contest the 2022 Champions League final. They have collectively been kings of Europe 19 times and are respectively the first and joint-third most successful teams in the history of the competition.
They have met twice in the final before, with the Reds winning 1-0 in Paris in 1981, while Madrid triumphed 3-1 in 2018 when they clashed in Kiev. The newly crowned La Liga champions also have the better of the head-to-head record and particularly in more recent times: Liverpool won the first three meetings, but since 2014 it has been four victories and a draw in five games for Real.
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Champions League 2022: Passage to Paris
- Liverpool (1.56 to win the 2022 Champions League. Bet with Cloudbet here)
Liverpool have created a piece of trivia history by becoming the first team to reach the Champions League final while only playing teams from three countries (and also from just five towns or cities).
Jürgen Klopp’s side won all six of their matches in the Group Stage, getting the better of AC Milan, Atletico Madrid and Porto. They have then faced Inter Milan, Benfica and Villarreal since the turn of the year, and though each of them posed problems at points in their tie, Liverpool were rarely in serious danger of going out of the competition.
When they qualified for the final with a 3-2 win against Villarreal in Spain, Klopp became only the fourth manager to reach a fourth final of the competition. However, his opponent in Paris then went one clear of the pack by reaching his fifth showpiece the following evening.
- Real Madrid (2.50 to win the 2022 Champions League. Bet with Cloudbet here)
Real Madrid suffered a stunning home defeat to FC Sheriff in the Group Stage but won their other games which saw them also take on Inter Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk. Their largely serene progress through the first half of the competition gave little indication of the chaos which would unfold in the knockout phase.
Los Blancos were behind in all three ties – against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City – and in each case without a huge amount of time to rescue themselves. But aided by a passionate crowd at the Bernabeu and the majestic goal scoring form of Karim Benzema they were able to advance through each round.
Liverpool are deserved favourites but with their never-say-die attitude and the expertise of Carlo Ancelotti (the first manager to reach five Champions League finals) on the bench, Real Madrid undoubtedly have a chance to win their 14th continental crown.
Champions League 2022: Strengths and Weaknesses
These two clubs might both be European football royalty but when it comes to their shot statistics in the 2021/22 Champions League, Liverpool are streets ahead.
They have had the easier matches in the knockout phase, in fairness, but the advantage they hold over Real is sizeable enough to surely account for that. In the last three rounds, the new Spanish champions have been outshot by their opponents by a total of 110 to 67, and they combined to have a greater number of clear-cut chances and shots on target too. On expected goals alone, Madrid should’ve been knocked out in each of the last three rounds.
They have two major things in their favour though. Vinicius Junior is fast enough to make fools of Liverpool’s high defensive line, as he proved when scoring twice against them in last seasons quarter-final clash between the teams.
And secondly, they have Ancelotti in charge and he has shown with Napoli and Everton that he knows exactly how to nullify the Reds. Liverpool played 57 matches in 2019/20 and in only six of them did they fail to have a clear-cut chance – four of them were against Ancelotti sides (he swapped Naples for the blue half of Merseyside mid-season, so faced them twice with each).
But Liverpool have the second strongest attack behind Bayern Munich among the 98 teams in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain this season. With Mohamed Salah keen on revenge for the Reds’ loss to Real in 2018, and Luis Diaz having hit the ground running since his mid-season switch from Porto, Liverpool are going to pose Real’s defence a serious test.
The Spanish side conceded six clear-cut chances to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium so the Reds can be confident of having some high-quality goal scoring opportunities in Paris.
Betting suggestions:
- Full Time Result: Liverpool to win – 1.99
- Both Teams to Score: Yes – 1.61
- Total Goals – Alternative Lines: Over 3.75 – 3.36
- Goalscorer 1: Mohamed Salah – odds TBC
Read: Top 5 football managers with the highest UCL final appearances in history
