Jamie Carragher is confident that Liverpool will beat Real Madrid in the final of the Champions League, suggesting that the Spanish side have had a “lot of luck” to reach this stage.
Liverpool will be bidding for a measure of revenge for Madrid’s 2018 final victory as the two sides meet again the showpiece decider.
While Jurgen Klopp’s side entered that encounter in Kyiv as underdogs, appearing in a first final since 2007 and facing a team seeking a third successive crown, the Premier League runners-up are considered favourites for Saturday night’s clash in Paris.
Klopp guided the club to a sixth European Cup crown in 2019 and his team have enjoyed another strong season, missing out on a shot at an historic quadruple by a single point after narrowly second to Manchester City in the Premier League.
Carragher believes that it is right that his old club are favoured ahead of Real Madrid, who the former Liverpool defender feels would have progressed through the rounds more conclusively were they a better side.
“I’ve watched Real Madrid in the Champions League this season and they’ve lost more games in the Champions League than Liverpool have lost all season in all competitions,” Carragher explained on The Overlap podcast.
“Real Madrid are a very good team but they’re not as good as Man City and I don’t think they’re as good as Chelsea - even though they beat both of them.
“You can spin it both ways with the spirit, the winning, the coming back, but they’ve carried a lot of luck in those games, which you need. If you win every game in the last minute coming from behind, if you’re that good a team you don’t get yourself in that position all the time.
“Man City should have battered them, they should have won [their semi-final first leg ] 6-2 at home - and then they’re 3-0 down at home to Chelsea.
“Of course, Real can win - it’s a one-off game. I just think if City or Liverpool were playing Real Madrid in a one-off game, having their team and playing near their best, they’d win the game. I’m confident.”
Real Madrid secured the Spanish title with several fixtures to spare this season, making Carlo Ancelotti the first manager to win each of Europe’s big five leagues.
The Italian is now hoping to win a fourth European Cup as a manager, taking him ahead of former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane, his predecessor at Real Madrid, as the most successful coach in competition history outright.
Carragher’s fellow Sky pundit Gary Neville thinks that Ancelotti’s midfield options and managerial experience could make the difference, disagreeing with his colleague and predicting that Real Madrid will claim another continental success.
“I don’t think Liverpool will win the European Cup,” Neville said. “I’ve thought a lot about [the final in] Paris and I’ve thought about Real Madrid and why they’ve won their games, why they keep coming back.
“I thought back to 1999 and how we kept coming back in games and winning late on. It was our midfield of [Roy] Keane, [Nicky] Butt, [Paul] Scholes, [Ryan] Giggs and [David] Beckham. They were absolutely phenomenal, beyond any level of what I’ve ever seen.
“I look at Real Madrid’s midfield in Casemiro, Kroos, Modric - plus the two that come in late with Valverde and Camavinga - those five players drive them right from the first minute and right to the end. And Carlo Ancelotti interferes with them until the very end.
“I think Liverpool’s midfield is their weak point and in the last 15 minutes that midfield for Real Madrid - the five of them combined - will see them win the game on Saturday.”
