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Liverpool player Mohamed Salah summarized his motives for the Champions League final in a six-word tweet, tweeting minutes following Real Madrid’s dramatic qualification to the final at the expense of Manchester City, to hit the two teams – Liverpool and Real Madrid – a date in Paris.
Salah wrote in his tweet: “We have a result that must be settled.” Salah is a star of few words, but his words can be demystified as referring to the team that caused one of the Egyptian player’s worst nights with Liverpool.
When Liverpool meet Real Madrid at the Stade de France on Saturday, the crazy evening that took place between the two clubs, four years ago, in Kyiv will bring back painful memories for Salah.
That night in Ukraine contained many shocking scenes, from Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius alone crying following the final whistle following his poor performance gifted two goals for Real Madrid, to the scissor kick from Gareth Bale to put Real on the path to victory.
But the most notable scene was seeing Salah crying as he left the field while Cristiano Ronaldo patted him, thirty minutes following the start of the final, following a harmful contact with defense captain Sergio Ramos.
Ramos, of course, defended himself, but Salah and Liverpool will never stray from the theory that he was targeted by a martial arts expert, as the fall caused massive damage to Salah’s shoulder, forcing him to walk off the field early.
picture released, AFP
Salah was injured in the 2018 final following a strong contact with Sergio Ramos
On this incident and its impact on the final, Liverpool coach Klopp said: “I don’t believe in revenge or think revenge is a great idea. I understand what Mo said, he wants to make it right, but in Germany we say we always meet twice in life.”
Klopp’s words somewhat overlook the fact that he and Salah did face Real Madrid once more in the quarter-finals last season in a surreal atmosphere behind closed doors.
This time the situation is different, this is the Champions League final and there is no doubt that Salah will be, as he himself said, “very excited and very motivated”.
Klopp may underestimate the talk of revenge, but Salah’s tweet reveals the reality.
And the current Liverpool team is more powerful than the team that Real Madrid beat following Salah’s injury, and Klopp certainly learned from this experience following he paid a heavy price to maintain his confidence in goalkeeper Karius, who was not close to the required level.
Salah had an impressive first season at Liverpool with 44 goals in 51 games before the 2018 final. When he left, he was replaced by Adam Lallana, who played only 14 games and played 395 minutes without scoring a goal that season.
This is no small feat for Lallana, and also just confirmation that Klopp had limited resources the last time the Reds and Real Madrid met in the Champions League final, he now has vast fortunes at his disposal.
Klopp would never want to lose Salah, despite winning the FA Cup over Chelsea following suffering a first-half injury. But Liverpool now has an impressive array of attacking options should problems arise.
In addition to Salah, Liverpool owns the reliable Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, in addition to the Portuguese Diogo Jota and the Colombian Luis Diaz, who moved to the Reds from Porto last January.
Salah is still the most prominent player in the ranks of Liverpool when talking regarding goals, as the Egyptian international scored 31 goals in 50 participation this season, and on Saturday night an opportunity for Liverpool to achieve a record for the Egyptian king and his club.
On Thursday followingnoon, the Stade de France – or the Stade de France – was bathed in the warm sun and intense humidity, as it put the finishing touches to Europe’s biggest event, of which Salah will be one of its stars.
The two teams arrive on Friday, when Klopp and Ancelotti will meet, who will be seeking a record-breaking Champions League win for the fourth time as coach.
Downplaying the motive for revenge may be a psychological ploy to prevent Salah from carrying too much on his shoulders, and trying hard when his team has enough weapons to go around.
Salah dominated the media scene in preparation for this final, and as Liverpool fans began arriving in the French capital on Thursday, the name and image of the 29-year-old was very clear.
picture released, Getty Images
Liverpool won the Champions League in the 2019 final at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur
It is not only that Salah is determined to write the story of redemption, but also his long-term future at Anfield.
The new contract that Liverpool wants Salah to commit to remains unsigned, and while his announcement that he will “definitely” be at Anfield next season is a short-term thing, and does not make clear whether he will stay with the team.
In fact, this increases the likelihood that he will be gone for free within 12 months. Salah certainly holds all the cards.
But this, at the moment, is a minor issue, the main priority is Saturday at St-Denis Stade de France.
Salah has waited four years since he sat in a Kyiv hospital, helpless and in agony, as Liverpool suffered that painful defeat. The tweet as soon as he set up a date with Real Madrid was tangible proof of how much this means to him.
Liverpool’s dream of the historic quartet ended following five miraculous minutes for Manchester City once morest Aston Villa that decided the Premier League on the final day of the season, but the Reds still have a chance to achieve a great hat-trick if they win the Champions League, which is added to the achievement of the League Cup and the FA Cup .
And no one at the Stade de France will be more determined to achieve this than Mohamed Salah, the man on a mission that took four years to prepare.
