Paris (AFP)
Liverpool, the runner-up, wishes the soul to confirm its awakening in its retaliatory mission from its Spanish guest, Real Madrid, the defending champion, when it hosts it today in the first leg of the Champions League final price, while the Italian Napoli aspires to continue its wonderful career in the competition, when it is a guest on the German Eintracht Frankfurt. .
Liverpool regained its balance this week with two victories at the expense of its neighbor Everton and its host Newcastle by one score (2-0), reviving its hopes once more in competing for one of the qualifying cards for the prestigious continental competition next season.
Liverpool narrowed the difference to seven points between it and Tottenham, who finished fourth and last, to qualify for the Champions League next season, knowing that German coach Jurgen Klopp’s men have a postponed match.
Liverpool, who won the title six times, would have achieved more trophies in the mother continental competition during the Klopp era, had Real Madrid not been in his way.
The Spanish giant defeated Liverpool in the 2018 final, eliminated it in the 2021 quarter-finals, and beat it 1-0 in the final of last season.
Liverpool has not defeated Real Madrid since the final price of 2009, when it beat it back and forth (1-0 in Madrid and 4-0 in Anfield).
Last year’s loss was particularly painful at the end of the “Reds” chase for the historic quadruple, so he eventually settled for the FA Cup and League Cup titles, which caused his players to suffer mentally and physically this season.
Liverpool paid dearly for that this season by losing the two local cup titles and being far away from the competition for the league title, and therefore the overthrow of the royal club would be a healing for the wounds and a renaissance towards the final match scheduled in Istanbul, the scene of the club’s historic victory over AC Milan in the 2005 final.
For its part, the Royal Club enters tomorrow’s match with four consecutive victories and is high on being crowned champions of the Club World Cup in Morocco.
The prestigious continental competition is of great importance to the royal club and may be the only savior for its season, as it is eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga and Clasico awaits it (back and forth) with the latter in the semi-finals of the local King’s Cup competition.
The Liverpool meeting is the first of seven consecutive confrontations that will largely determine the fate of Ancelotti’s men, as they receive Atletico Madrid next Saturday in La Liga, then Barcelona on the second of next month in the first leg of the local cup competition, following which they face host Real Betis and guest Espanyol in the league, then guest Liverpool. In the second leg of the Champions League, they will play the second leg of the League Clasico once morest Barcelona, and then the second leg of the Cup once morest the latter.
Ancelotti rested his French captain and top scorer, Karim Benzema, on Saturday, on his trip to Pamplona to face Osasuna (2-0). “He is a little tired, and we would prefer him to recover well for Tuesday’s match.”
On the other hand, Ancelotti hopes that German midfielders Toni Kroos and Frenchman Aurelien Chouamini will recover from a cold.
Napoli is waiting for a risky trip to Germany to face Eintracht Frankfurt, the European champions, the Europa League last season.
The southern team is presenting a wonderful season locally, as it is 15 points away in the lead and Continental by reaching the final price with five victories in the group stage, which it finished once morest Liverpool, the runner-up, and thus seeks to continue its successes.
Napoli relied on its striking attacking force, “20 goals in the competition,” led by Nigerian Victor Osimhen, Calcio’s top scorer, “18 goals,” and Georgian Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, to pay back an old debt to Frankfurt, who ousted the southern team from the third round of the European Cup competition in the 1994-1995 season by beating it back and forth. With a single score (1-0).
However, the task will not be easy for Frankfurt, who is doing well in the face of adults, and the evidence is its exclusion of Barcelona from the quarter-finals of the Europa League competition last season on its way to the title.
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