'Liverpool are an impossible team to play against'
May 27, 2022
Steve McManaman will be torn on Saturday night. Liverpool, his childhood club where he played 364 times, will take on Real Madrid, with whom he became a two-time Champions League winner. So who does he want to win Saturday's final?
"I'm in a no-win, no-lose situation," McManaman told DW. "I've got friends in both camps, and all these years on, Real Madrid still have the same kitman and a lot of the same physios working there. So to see these type of people is an incredible thing that you want them to do well.
"But I still work at the Liverpool Academy and I want Liverpool to be successful — that goes without saying."
McManaman's finest hour
It's not only a meeting between the two clubs where he spent 13 of his 15 years as a player, but it's also a return to Paris and his finest hour as a footballer.
McManaman's scissor volley from the edge of the box was the key second goal in Real Madrid's 3-0 Champions League final win over Valencia in 2000, an all-Spanish affair at the Stade de France — the very stadium where his former clubs will contest the 2022 edition.
"It's surreal," McManaman said, before pausing for a moment. "You know, I was in Madrid on Tuesday for the press conference and someone reminded me that the 2000 final was exactly 22 years ago. My kids are with me in Paris this weekend, so I might show them the spot where I scored the volley."
The 2022 final will be a repeat of the 2018 final – which Real Madrid won after Sergio Ramos' foul on Mohamed Salah and Gareth Bale's breathtaking overhead kick.
"Of course, Liverpool and Real Madrid have got history in '81 too, when Alan Kennedy scored the winner," McManaman recalled, referencing Liverpool's 1981 European Cup victory in Paris' other major stadium, the Parc des Princes. "This is a game rich in history."
Klopp's Liverpool 'impossible' to play against
Saturday's final will be Jürgen Klopp's third Champions League final in five seasons with Liverpool, and his fourth in total – including the 2013 final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in London. Klopp has so far won only one of those finals, but the former England international believes Klopp and Liverpool are at the peak of their powers right now.
"Liverpool are an impossible team to play against when they're on it — and they're on it all the time it seems," he said. "Even in finals that have gone to extra time, they just always seem to find a way. And they haven't had an easy run this year, drawn into a group with AC Milan, Atletico Madrid and Porto — they steamrolled the group — and then beating the likes of Inter Milan too.
"Klopp has done an exceptional job with the team. I think the staff around Klopp are doing an amazing job. And also the people upstairs who were buying and selling the players — everything they touch seems to turn to gold at this moment."
Madrid's 'magic moments'
Real Madrid, written off at times this season, have reached their 20th Champions League (or European Cup) final, producing some memorable moments along the way.
"Karim Benzema's quick hattrick against PSG was extraordinary, Luka Modric's unbelievable outside of the boot assist against Chelsea — these have been the defining moments of the competition for me this season," said McManaman.
He added: "If you want to talk about teams doing it the hard way though, you have to say Real Madrid have had the toughest run. They've beaten the champions of Italy in their group, then the champions of England and France, and knocked out the holders. They're on an amazing run and they have an amazing coach too.
"Some teams have an affinity with certain trophies and Madrid definitely do with Champions League," McManaman concluded. "But then again, so do Liverpool."