Andy Robertson has made it clear: Liverpool will be out for revenge when they take on Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
The Reds reached the Stade de France showpiece with a 5-2 aggregate victory over Villarreal while Los Blancos produced a stunning comeback against Manchester City to book their spot in Paris in two weeks time. Between them, the two continental giants have been crowned European champions 19 times - and it is Real Madrid who have come out on top in recent meetings.
The Spanish club overcame Liverpool in the 2018 final in Kyiv thanks to two blunders from Loris Karius either side of a sensational Gareth Bale volley. Last season, Zinedine Zidane masterminded another victory over the Anfield club, eliminating them from the Champions League at the quarter-final stage with a 3-1 aggregate scoreline.
In fact, Liverpool have not defeated Real Madrid since an emphatic 4-0 victory in March 2009, giving Robertson and his teammates added motivation to emerge victorious from this season's final. "Look, obviously the final against Madrid didn't go as we wanted it to and they put us out last season as well, so since I've been here we've not managed to get one over on Real Madrid," the Scotland captain said after the Reds defeated Chelsea in Saturday's FA Cup final.
"They've knocked us out and they have beaten us in the final, so it'd be nice to play them again and try and get one over on them because we've not managed it. But when it comes to cup finals you want to win them all regardless, it doesn't really matter who you play.
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"You want to win the trophy and that's my mindset but it's also Real Madrid's mindset. So it'll be an incredibly difficult game but we've got big Premier League games to focus on first and then we'll have a week to focus on that game.
"We've shown that we know how to win trophies. We've stood tall, put in good performances, dug deep when it matters and we're delighted to obviously have the two trophies in the bag. That's incredible and we're still fighting for the Premier League. It's out of our hands but we'll obviously fight for the Champions League when the time comes to it."
Liverpool travel to Southampton on Tuesday evening for their penultimate Premier League fixture before hosting Wolves on the final day. They still harbour hope of an unlikely top-flight triumph and will rely on Manchester City dropping points against Aston Villa on Sunday after they drew 2-2 with West Ham last weekend.
Robertson and his teammates will have nearly a full week to prepare for the Champions League final on Saturday 28 May - a luxury they have not been afforded much in recent months. The left-back added: "I am sure we'll be ready for the Champions League final. The adrenaline will get us through and we're all looking forward to the occasion already."
