When Steve McManaman was asked to name a combined Liverpool and Real Madrid XI ahead of Saturday's Champions League final in Paris, he could be forgiven for having divided loyalties.
The 90s winger, nicknamed 'Shaggy', worked his way through the Melwood youth ranks and broke into the Liverpool first team before winning the FA Cup under Greame Souness in 1992 and going on to star with two goals in the 1995 League Cup final. But his greatest achievement undoubtedly arrived in the white of Real Madrid in 2000, scoring a stunning volley against Valencia in a 3-0 win for Los Blancos - a match that was also held in the Stade de France.
McManaman would go on to achieve further Champions League success with Madrid, winning the 2002 final against Bayer Leverkusen. But his Spanish glory years appear to have had no influence on his combined XI ahead of this evening's European showdown between the two modern squads, selecting no fewer than NINE Liverpool players.
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Speaking about his selections in a video for Betway, McManaman said: "Courtois had a good season. He had his critics in his first season but I'm going to go for Allison Becker." After picking and all-red back-four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Irbrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson, McManaman finally selected a Madrista in midfield - Luka Modric - alongside Fabinho and Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Up front the ex-England star opted for a bit of balance, with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah supporting Karim Benzema down the middle. Speaking about his up front picks, McManaman said: "Salah started his season really, really well. The goals he scored and the number of goals put him ahead of everybody."
"Vinicius Jr is a very unlucky person to miss out but there's the fact that he's playing against Sadio Mane, who's in great form at the moment. He's just won the African nations in January and put them through in the World Cup. Salah had a really good first four to five months and I think Mane's really picked up the baton recently so he deserves to be in my team as well. Karim's had the best season he's ever had. He's just in that moment at the minute that everything took everything he touches turns to gold.
"Two Real Madrid players. Nine Liverpool players. That's how I feel at the moment."
