Champions League: reunion at the top for Real Madrid and Liverpool
Mohamed Salah (d) and Sergio Ramos during the Champions League final in 2018. GENYA SAVILOV AFP
Text by: Farid Achache Follow
4 min
Real Madrid host Liverpool on Tuesday April 6 in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.
The last confrontation between the two European giants dates back to the 2018 final.
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A little less than three years after Liverpool's defeat in the 2018 C1 final against Real Madrid (3-1), the two clubs meet in the quarter-finals to go to Madrid.
At the time
, the formation of Zinédine Zidane becoming the first in history to win three consecutive Champions Leagues.
The French Karim Benzema opened the scoring in the 51st minute, the Senegalese international Sadio Mané equalized four minutes later, but two goals from substitute Gareth Bale (64th, 83rd) - including a magnificent bicycle - offered a new title to the Madrilenians.
The two teams, which have nineteenC1 between them, qualified by eliminating Atalanta for Real and Leipzig for Liverpool in the round of 16.
The Reds play their eighth quarter-final in thirteen participations in this new formula of the C1.
Two less domineering formations
Since the 2018 final, Real Madrid, the last Spanish representative in C1, no longer dominates as before.
Liverpool, after winning the C1 in 2019 and then the
Premier League last summer
, is no longer a scarecrow figure in its championship with a sixth place at the moment.
Last season, Madrid's campaign ended in the round of 16, with a 2-1 loss at home and away to Manchester City.
Liverpool also took the door in the round of 16 dropping 3-2 (after extra time) against Atlético Madrid in the return match at Anfield, after having already lost in the first leg (1-0).
“
We know how difficult this confrontation will be.
All teams are difficult to play at this level.
At the moment they are very far in the league, but it is a team which can play its card at any time
, ”Zidane stressed at the time of the draw.
Time for revenge for Salah?
“
It's exhilarating, really.
It will be hard, but it's not a problem because when you see the other teams, you see that they are all excellent.
I can't wait to play these two matches.
Our last meeting was only two years ago, it was complicated, but we have a second chance, and it's cool,
”said Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool coach.
For Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, this quarter-final against Real sounds like a spirit of revenge after what happened in the 2018 final. Salah had to leave the final in tears shortly after being injured after a tackle from Sergio Ramos, which some considered intentional.
The Egypt international suffered a dislocated shoulder that reduced him during the
2018 World Cup in Russia
.
"
Let's say I have a particular motivation to win this game and go to the semi-finals,
" Salah admitted to the
Marca
newspaper
.
Oddly enough, he won't run into Ramos, since the Real Madrid captain is injured.
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