Diaz starts for me, rested for a week between the cup final and the Wolves game and a further week this week he should be ready to go.
My team
Ali
TAA Matip VVD Robbo
Fab, Thiago Hendo (if Thiago is unavailable then Keita, if both Fab and Thiago are unavailable then it’s Firmino).
Salah Mane Diaz
If they can get 45-60 out of Fabinho I’d start and rotate Hendo back into number 6 when he goes off if Thiago can only get 30+ then that’s the change I’d make.
Apparently Fabinho will return to training today.
FFS! The match hasn’t even started yet… 
We are useless. Salah can’t score. Virgil can’t defend. Jürgen is a fraud. We can’t possibly beat Madrid. All their team play 9/10s every game while we struggle. There is no chance we will win. No chance. 4-0 Madrid.
You missed out the tea ladies’ arthritis and the fact that our travelling fans are silent during the match.
If he’s ready he starts. He’s got a 6 week rest after the game so no need to protect him
Asked how his side has evolved since then, the manager told UEFA: “Oh, we did it the Liverpool way, which is the hard way. So, we lost [some] big finals, obviously.
“In the first year [of his time in charge], Europa League final and the Carabao Cup final. All of these experiences are important in life. They are. But they are not nice [in] any way.
“So then, we came back and we had to learn [how to win]. We had to learn [how to] be at our top level of focus and concentration in a game like this.
“To do all the things you do over the years, to use it in such a high, prolific game – and that’s the plan. So yeah, I think if we are not entering a world-class team already but you want to get there then you’re going to have to learn [how].
“And that’s what we did and I’m really happy with how the boys have developed over the years. That’s why the group has been pretty together since then. [This hasn’t] happened a lot but some players are playing a third Champions League final, which is absolutely incredible.”
(…)
“It was always tough [against Real],” said Klopp. “It’s because, first and foremost, they are a world-class team, a world-class club, and they know how to win football games.
“I think that says it all and they’re not out there to play friendly games, but neither are we and especially not in a final. I think the most we can learn [since 2018] from what we know about both teams, it didn’t happen too much squad-wise, maybe even a little bit more with Real Madrid but still, the core, especially the midfield, is still there.
“A lot of things are still [the way] they were before. So, their [back] line has changed a lot, up front, Cristiano [Ronaldo] is not there, true, but [Karim] Benzema is still there, young Brazilians [Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo] now and all these kinds of things, so it’s a top-class team.
“But it’s good to have played finals before, definitely. I said it after we won the final against Tottenham: in all the finals that my teams have played before, we played better football but we lost.
“So, we have to learn to win finals and we’ve won a few, not Champions League finals, but a few others. We are more experienced [now] and that’s probably good.”
The stats tables presented in that link are very interesting - they set out a comparison between ourselves and Madrid across the CL this season.
There’s very little in it in Attack, for example, we’ve scored two more goals than them (30 compared to 28), with only five more shots on target (73 compared to 68), however Reals shot conversion rate (21.4%) is higher than ours (20.8%). It’s splitting hairs.
In Defence, there’s some interesting reading. We’ve conceded 13 compared to Real’s 14, which is very tight (also 4 clean sheets a piece from 12 games). The stat that really jumped out at me however is that we’ve faced 28 shots, compared to a whopping 65 for Real! Unfortunately, the tables don’t include XG, which gives a clearer picture of the quality of the shots, or whether that includes off target and on target - but it appears that Real concede more chances than we do - but also means we concede at a higher rate per shot faced. The likes of tackles won (119 for us v 127 for Real), tackle success rate (59.8% v 59.6%) and duel success rate (50.6% v 52%) are fairly tight. We have had more duels (638 v 586).
Distribution’s much of a muchness - we have made 6,407 successful passes v 6,032 for Real - everything else right - we’ve got more dribbles though (150 v 126).
Discipline relatively tight, but appears more in their favour - they’ve won more fouls (116 v 141) and we’ve conceded more fouls (138 v 113), that is worrying. They’ve picked up 25 yellows compared to our 14 - so when they foul they are bad ones?
Always interesting seeing what the stats can reveal, but one variable that you can not account for statistically is the players emotions and ability to focus and play to the best of their abilities on their day.
They should have made the ball blue and yellow.
Yeah. The last exit against Real, back with our championship level defense, Keita was rushed back from injury and was so far off the pace he was removed during the first half, in an act that many viewed as signaling the end of his Liverpool career. I think the game Kopstar is thinking of is the first leg of the Barca semi two seasons before. He was in one of those runs of form where people were starting to believe in him and early in the game he slipped, did the splits and had to be replaced and was then out for the rest of the season. From what I remember, it didnt appear to be related to anything untowards ay Barca players did.
Seems that we need to twat Real Madrid as a revenge not just for Salah but also to show Tchouameni that without him, we still can twat Madrid.
Think that was the injury that he didn’t really recover from for a couple of seasons, wasn’t it?
Yeah, it’s the one that started the run of recent problems. He didnt recover to play for us again that season but still went away and played summer games for Guinea and had to suffer through those.
So does that mean there are 13 are now available…names in a hat pls…
Matip or Konaté?
Everyone else is clear. Expect Fab back, but no Thiago.
Difficult one to call.
On Press box earlier the thought was that Matip has been the best centre back this season.
What they were also saying though was that if Hendo has to play number 6, then it’s more difficult for him to cover for Viniscius’s runs in behind Trent and it might then be better to have Konate’s pace on that right hand side.
Personally I was thinking Konate even if Fabinho fit to start. Not so sure now after performance on Sunday.
I wouldn’t say it’s 50-50, Matip is still on paper our 2nd best CB.
But it’s not 100% in Matip’s favour either, as we’ve seen lately.
However, I do expect and want Matip, especially with our problems in midfield. Need that calmness he brings.
Konate on the bench and ready to come on if Virgil/Joel have issues at some point in the game.
