Liverpool vs Real Madrid (UCL 2022 Final): Match Preview – Who has the edge?

Stade de France (Saint-Denis in France) is ready to host the UEFA Champions League 2022 Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid on Saturday (28h May) night.

The English Premier League club Liverpool has won this European premier club football tournament six times. Another UCL trophy will help them become the joint-second most UCL trophy winners with seven such trophies (AC Milan have also won seven UCL trophies).

Meanwhile, the Spanish La Liga club Real Madrid is the most successful team in UCL history along with 13 trophies. Winning their 14th UCL title will help the Whites to create new history in this tournament.

On the other hand, both the managers have already experienced the UEFA Champions League title successes. The Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp has won his only UCL title for Liverpool in the 2018/19 season.

Meanwhile, Los Blancos’ manager Carlo Ancelotti has already won three UCL trophies (twice with AC Milan in 2002/03 and 2006/07 & once with Real Madrid in 2013/14)

So, the upcoming UCL 2022 final battle is going to be very exciting.

Liverpool vs Real Madrid: Previous UCL finals

It will be the third time when Liverpool and Real Madrid will face each other in the UCL final. There are no other teams that have met thrice in the UCL final history.

The first time they met in the UCL final was back in 1981 at Parc des Princes, Paris, France. The English club the Reds won that game by a 1-0 margin and clinched the 1980/81 title. The English left-back Alan Kennedy scored the only goal of the match.

Their second UCL final meeting was recorded in 2018 at NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kyiv, Ukraine. This time the Spanish club the Whites beat the English club by 3-1. While Karim Benzema put ahead Los Blancos in the 51st minute, Sadio Mane levelled the scoreline just four minutes later.

Then Gareth Bale scored twice (63’ & 83’) to secure Los Blancos’ 13th UCL title by lifting the 2017/18 edition trophy.

Liverpool

Season summary

The Premier League 2021/22 runners-up Liverpool have a great season overall. They just failed to win the Premier League title despite performing really well as they (92 points) finished one point behind the champions Manchester City (93 points).

However, the Reds won domestic cups this season, EFL Cup and FA Cup, where they beat Chelsea in both those finals by penalty shootout.

While the Reds just missed the opportunity to achieve a quadruple or domestic treble, they still have the chance to complete a treble by winning the upcoming UCL final.

UCL 2021/22 form

In this UCL season, the Reds first won all their six games in the Group Stage. In the knockout stages of this tournament, while they mostly dominated in the first legs by winning all the three first legs, they faced tougher challenges in the return legs (one loss, one draw and one win respectively) but managed to avoid any shocker results.

No doubt that they are in great form and one of the deserving sides to win this UCL title. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Diogo Jota are in great goal-scoring form with many other top supporting players.

Predicted XI for the UCL 2022 final (4-3-3)

Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz

Manager: Jurgen Klopp

Real Madrid

Real Madrid are also one of the strongest teams in this European football season, and they are also one of the deserving teams to win this UCL title.

Season summary

While Los Blancos had a trophy-less run in the previous season (2020/21), they emerged as one of the most dominant teams in this European season under the management of Carlo Ancelotti. Apart from winning the La Liga 2021/22 in a dominant way (86 points; seven points gap from the runners-up), the Whites also clinched the Supercopa de Espana title this season. However, they were only quarter-finalists in the Copa del Rey 2021/22.

Real Madrid have a good chance to record a treble this season by winning their 14th UCL title.

UCL 2021/22 form

Apart from a home defeat against Sheriff Tiraspol, the Whites won all their other Group Stage matches this UCL season.

In the knockout stages of this UCL season, Los Blancos were always under pressure but delivered their best at the crucial decisive moments. In all those three knock-out stages of this competition, the Whites just edged past their opponents.

Karim Benzema is in the unstoppable goal-scoring form at present. Vinícius Júnior, Marco Asensio and Rodrygo are also in top form along with the other teammates.  

Since the 1981 UCL final defeat against Liverpool, Real Madrid have always won their UCL finals as they played seven UCL finals before the upcoming one. 

Predicted XI for the UCL 2022 final (4-3-3)

Thibaut Courtois; Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Ferland Mendy; Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Luka Modric; Federico Valverde, Karim Benzema, Vinicius Junior

Manager: Carlo Ancelotti