As if they needed it.
Liverpool will head to Kiev on May 26 as underdogs and rightly so. Real Madrid are in hot pursuit of a third successive Champions League crown and though they will never really get too much credit over here because of their erratic style of play, that achievement takes some doing.
And while it goes without saying that Zinedine Zidane’s men are well accustomed to the favourites tag by this stage, there is still no need for any Liverpool players or management to provide the Galacticos with ammunition that they don’t already have.
Being underdogs is the best way to go into a game, especially when you actually are underdogs. All public utterances in the build-up should be overly modest, deflective and even gushing of the other team to the extent that they’re in the best in the world and it really will take something out of the ordinary to beat them. Build those lads up and make them cockier than they already are.
That’s how the masters of the pre-match mind games do it, just watch Jose Mourinho who’s been trying to tell us all year that his Manchester United team assembled by millions are no more than a bunch of overachieving long shots in transition. And he’s performed that task so well that you’d nearly find yourself believing him.
The Champions League final will be uncharted territory for this Liverpool side. They are a relatively young, inexperienced team and while that does add to their explosive unpredictability, there is still no reason for them to go public with their confidence.
The Merseysiders can for all the world believe that they are capable of beating Real Madrid in the Ukraine. Let’s not forget, these boys are vulnerable at the back as well and they’ll have their hands full with the sharpest front three in world football, but this confidence should be kept under wraps in Melwood and within the four white walls of the dressing room.
This should be a weapon for the Reds’ that they can pull out and stun Madrid with when it matters. Games will not be won in Press Conferences and they probably won’t be lost either, but Dejan Lovren did his best to test the boundaries of that on Thursday evening.
Liverpool’s greatest facet going into this game is that they will be the ones going in under the radar.
Not on Dejan Lovren’s watch.
“They are quite confident,” he said of Real Madrid to the Liverpool Echo on Thursday.
“But we don’t care about that, we are focused on our job. Why should we fear them? They should fear us,” added the Croatian defender.
Oh Dejan why don’t you just get Zidane some blu-tack to help him hang pride of place in the Madrid changing rooms as well?
Where Liverpool should be shoving all the limelight away down the throats of their opponents, they’re giving them a nice little reprieve now.
Why on earth does the club keep letting this man do interviews https://t.co/6roLnxLmkC
— Nate (@NateGuildea) May 3, 2018
While there is no doubting that the Pool will be confident in their own skin, nobody outside of their camp needs to know about that.
They should be the ones over-playing this underdog status, they should be the ones convincing Madrid that all they have to do is turn up.
And let’s not forget, This is the same Lovren who was under fire up until a few weeks ago when his constant mistakes were the ones that were keeping his side down, the same Lovren who referred to Harry Kane as ‘Mr. Touch’ on Instagram recently.
The trick is not to get too far ahead of yourself, not to get too big for your boots because there will come a time when you’ll be caught out.
