Liverpool and Real Madrid ready for Champions League finals
The teams of Liverpool and Real Madrid will meet on Saturday in the Champions League final in Paris.
The teams of Liverpool and Real Madrid will meet on Saturday in the Champions League final in Paris, with Jurgen Klopp's side hoping for a treble, and the Spanish giants looking on Karim Benzema to inspire them to a 14th European Cup title.
The Stade de France will be packed for the 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) kickoff, as Liverpool and Real fight for European club football's most coveted title for the second time in five years.
The final promises to be a fitting end to the European season, with Liverpool aiming to win their second Champions League in four seasons only days after narrowly losing the Premier League championship battle to Manchester City.
They were already victorious in winning the English League Cup and the FA Cup.
Klopp stated Friday that "If you are a football person you know what my boys did so far this season was exceptional," adding that "I'm more than happy and proud of what we did so far, it's really special. I will feel better if we win the game and that's all that I am concerned about."
The news that midfielders Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara are fit to play has given hope to the German.
This final is being played in Paris since Saint-Petersburg was stopped from playing as part of a western sanction campaign against Russia.
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Up to 60,000 Liverpool fans have traveled to Paris, the majority without tickets.
With just 20,000 followers from each team permitted to attend the final, tens of thousands of Liverpool fans crammed into a fanzone set up in the city's east, converting a tree-lined boulevard into a sea of red.
"Look by yourself, we've taken over all of Paris!" Rohan Sood, a 22-year-old Londoner, told AFP.