"Berdasar performa Mohamed Salah di level klub dan internasional, dia sangat dekat dengan Ballon d'Or."
The collective push to put Liverpool 90 minutes away from Champions League glory has been littered with unforgettable individual moments.
From the very first goal of the run – Trent Alexander-Arnold fulfilling a boyhood dream with a perfect free-kick in the play-off at Hoffenheim – Jürgen Klopp’s side have been adding to the rich tapestry of the Reds’ European history this season.
Tonight, those players have the opportunity to live out the greatest moment imaginable when they take on holders Real Madrid in Kiev. Can they claim the trophy for a sixth time?
Before they attempt to achieve legendary status, we asked five of the protagonists during the journey to describe one of the key incidents they were involved in en route to the final…
Virgil van Dijk
“In the home game against Manchester City, the fans gave us an extra boost going into the stadium. I prepared like I normally prepare, and relaxed a little bit. Going onto the pitch for the warm-up, I enjoyed that as well with the fans already shouting.
“The game started; we scored the first, the second, the third – it was incredible. It was such a relief but also an amazing feeling. I was more tired from running to the guys that scored than from the game! It was fantastic and the fans kept us going. It was tough and the second half was hard, but big credit to the guys and the fans and the people around us who kept us going.
“That night was very, very important in our run. Afterwards, everyone was happy but the job wasn’t finished. Because of the atmosphere – the noise and the fans – I couldn’t sleep that night. I was still awake and full of adrenaline.”
Mohamed Salah
“Against City, when I passed the ball to Sadio [Mane], I expected he would go straight to the goal. When I saw the ball drop to me, I wanted to pass the goalkeeper. I saw Sadio on the other side but I knew [Nicolas] Otamendi would go to ground so that’s why I decided to chip it.
“I chipped the ball and immediately I saw it was going in. I turned my face and went to our fans. The emotions, with the players coming from everywhere, were unbelievable. My celebration was something natural. I scored and felt like I wanted to do it. I think it’s the first time in my life I didn’t smile [after a goal]. It was natural.”
Andy Robertson
“To play and beat Manchester City five years to the day that I got beat in the Third Division with Queen’s Park was obviously a special moment. It didn’t get off to the start we wanted, falling behind, and the nerves ramped up a bit. I’m sure everyone back in Liverpool was feeling the same.
“To then see Mo put in the goal – and know that was really the goal to get us into the semi-final – was an incredible feeling. After the game it was a special moment between the fans and the players, we celebrated getting into the semi-final together. It’ll be something that lives long in the memory for all the lads.
“I follow my ex-teammates at Queen’s Park at the time and a few of them were tweeting about the game. We got beat 2-0. To see that and the journey I’ve come on, five years later I’m playing on the biggest stage against Manchester City and going into the semi-finals, was a nice feeling to reflect on.”
WHAT A NIGHT!! #YNWA 🔴 A post shared by Andrew Robertson (@andyrobertson94) on Apr 10, 2018 at 3:11pm PDT
Georginio Wijnaldum
“When I scored that goal against Roma I was so happy – I’d finally scored an away goal! The importance of that goal made me really happy. I was also happy to celebrate it with [Andreas] Kornmayer because we work really hard together in the gym to make me a better player, stronger and with more stability in my body.
“Every time he said, ‘you’re going to score’, I didn’t score. He didn’t say it for a few games and against Roma he said it again. He said, ‘believe me, you will score’. So I was happy because it was important but also because Korny said it.
“It was a corner kick from the left side, Millie took it. The ball came out and went in the air, Virgil jumped against [Edin] Dzeko and he couldn’t clear it properly. He headed it back to me, I was in front of the goalkeeper, I had a clear header and the ball went in.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold
“At full-time in Rome, we’d just got to the Champions League final. Me and Ben [Woodburn] wanted to go and celebrate with the thousands of fans that made the journey over. We were feeling just like they did and wanted to celebrate as much as possible. We got a little bit carried away!
“It was their victory as much as ours; they’re the 12th man, we needed them and they were there in huge numbers. We wanted to celebrate and say thank you to them for the support they have given us through this incredible journey.
“I’ve watched videos of us being filmed from the crowd. It’s unbelievable. I got a bit of stick for my claps being out of sync – but I wasn’t really focused on that, I was focused on enjoying it. Looking back, it was unbelievable. Hopefully on Saturday there’ll be much more of that.”
Liverpool fans painted Kiev red ahead of kick-off in the Champions League final.
Gathering at the designated spot for supporters at Shevchenko Park and its surrounds, the travelling Kopites covered the area with banners and built up the atmosphere in the sunshine ahead of the big game against Real Madrid.
Take a look in our photo gallery below.
Jürgen Klopp has all of his available players to choose from when he picks his starting XI for the Champions League final against Real Madrid tonight.
Having not featured for Liverpool since sustaining a back injury in mid-March, Emre Can’s return to training means the midfielder is in contention for a place in the matchday squad.
“He’s a nice option and that’s why he is with us,” the manager explained to Liverpoolfc.com on board the flight to Kiev, while also confirming that James Milner is fully fit again.
As injuries mounted for the Reds in the final weeks of the season and they balanced their European adventure with Premier League commitments, Klopp was unable to make significant changes to his team.
But with Adam Lallana another notable returnee with several weeks of training under his belt, the boss expects to name the strongest substitutes’ bench for ‘weeks or months’.
“We are as fresh as we can be after this two weeks; fitness will not be an issue,” the German told reporters at his pre-match press conference inside the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium.
It is a similar story for Real coach Zinedine Zidane.
The ankle injury suffered by Cristiano Ronaldo against FC Barcelona earlier this month has fully cleared, leaving the Frenchman with the luxury of a selection headache.
“Cristiano is good, if he’s not at 150 per cent, he’s at 140 per cent and that’s not bad! Tomorrow it’s the last game of the season – he lives to play games like this,” said Zidane at his own media briefing on Friday.
On the difficulty of selecting a XI, he continued: “I have to take decisions. All our players are good players and there’ll be a lot left out and on the bench.
“We think as a team. A player can be disappointed, but when the game starts, he’s with the team and we need to continue to do that. We’re a squad, a group.”
