Liverpool – Real Madrid

28^th May 2022

• This will be the ninth meeting between Liverpool and Real Madrid in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League – after winning the first three between 1981 and 2009, the Reds are winless in the last five (D1 L4), including a defeat in the final in 2018.
• Liverpool and Real Madrid will meet for the third time in the final of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, the most between two clubs across the history of the two competitions. Liverpool won the first final back in 1981 (1-0), before Real Madrid beat Jürgen Klopp’s side 3-1 in 2018.
• Liverpool are looking to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the seventh time in their history – a victory in Paris would take them level with AC Milan (7), and leave them only behind opponents Real Madrid (13) for the most overall victories across the two competitions.
• Real Madrid are aiming to win the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the 14^th time, which would then be twice as many as any other team (7, AC Milan). Los Blancos have lifted the trophy on each of the last seven occasions when they have appeared in the final, with their last defeat in the showpiece coming against Liverpool back in 1981 – a game that was also played in Paris thanks to an Alan Kennedy winner.
• Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has faced Real Madrid more times than any other opponent in the UEFA Champions League (9), winning just three of those matches (D2 L4). Among teams he has faced at least three times in the competition, against no other opponent does Klopp have a lower win percentage (33%).
• Carlo Ancelotti is looking to win the UEFA Champions League for the fourth time; the most by any manager in the competition’s history (after 2002-03 & 2006-07 with AC Milan, and 2013-14 with current club Real Madrid). Ancelotti has lifted the trophy in three of his previous four UEFA Champions League finals, only failing to do so against Liverpool in 2004-05 with AC Milan (lost 2-3 on penalties).
• Liverpool have allowed fewer opposition sequences of 10+ uninterrupted passes per game than any other team in the UEFA Champions League this season (4.1). Furthermore, only Ajax (7.4) – who were eliminated in the last 16 – allowed fewer opposition passes per defensive action than Liverpool (8.5) this term.
• Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has scored 33 goals under Jürgen Klopp in the UEFA Champions League; only three players have ever netted more while playing under a single manager in the competition’s history – Lionel Messi under Pep Guardiola (43), Ruud van Nistelrooy under Sir Alex Ferguson (35) and Thierry Henry under Arsène Wenger (35).
• Real Madrid have five different players in their squad with 100+ UEFA Champions League appearances (Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Marcelo and David Alaba) – they could become the first team to name a starting XI for a final with four or more different players having made a century of appearances in the competition. The current-most is three, which was also by Real Madrid in the 2018 final (Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos).
• Jordan Henderson could make his 50^th UEFA Champions League appearance for Liverpool (currently on 49), which would see him join Jamie Carragher (80), Steven Gerrard (73) and Phil Neal (57) as the only English players to reach 50 games for the Reds in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.
• Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who will be 34 years and 160 days old on the day of the game, would be second-oldest player to score in a UEFA Champions League final, after Paolo Maldini for AC Milan in 2005 (36y 333d, also v Liverpool). Benzema opened the scoring in a 3-1 win the last time these two teams faced in the final of the competition, back in 2018.
• Since the start of the 2017-18 season, Mohamed Salah has scored 33 goals and made 11 assists for Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League – only Robert Lewandowski (55) and Kylian Mbappé (47) have been directly involved in more goals. In this period, Salah is one of only two players with 30+ goals and 10+ assists in the competition, along with Lionel Messi.
• Karim Benzema has scored 15 goals for Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League this season, just two behind the all-time record in a single European Cup/UEFA Champions League campaign (17, Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013-14). If he scores in this game, Benzema would also become the outright third top scorer in the history of the two competitions (currently level with Robert Lewandowski on 86), behind Cristiano Ronaldo (140) and Lionel Messi (125).
• Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold could make his third appearance in a UEFA Champions League final. Aged 23 years and 233 days on the day of this year’s final, he would be the second-youngest player in the competition’s history to play in three finals, after Alessandro Del Piero in 1998 (23y 192d), while the right-back could be the youngest to start three such finals, surpassing Thomas Müller (23y 254d).
• Real Madrid winger Vinícius Júnior has been directly involved in nine goals in the UEFA Champions League this season (three goals, six assists) - the last South American player to be directly involved in 10+ in a single campaign in the competition while 21 or under was Lionel Messi in 2008-09 (14 – nine goals, five assists).