Champions League Final: Liverpool vs. Ronaldo
The UEFA Champions League final match was a clash between two titans of European football: Liverpool and Real Madrid. Both teams, famous for attacking, attractive football, battled it out in a fierce match in Kiev.
First Half:
- Liverpool started the match with their usual, high energy geggenpress and forced Real back. Their intent lead to them fashioning good attacking opportunities but nothing clear cut.
- Real, on the other hand, started the game looking to slow down the tempo. The trio of Kroos, Modric and Casemiro tried to calmly build up attacks. They were moderately successful and managed to create one particularly decent chance which Ronaldo shot over the bar from an angle.
- Liverpool’s fullbacks offered particularly worrying attacking threat to Real’s defense. Their runs in behind were a thorn in the side of the Spanish side. One of such nicely worked moves lead to Trent Alexander-Arnold nearly opening the scoring but he was denied by a smart Navas save.
- Liverpool were dealt a damaging blow midway through the first half as Mohamed Salah was injured during a coming together with Sergio Ramos. The attacker came down heavily on his shoulder and was unable to continue. The distraught Egyptian was replaced by Adam Lallana.
- Salah’s coming off acted as a boost for the Spanish side who immediately upped the tempo and looked to take the game to Liverpool. Real started to dominate the possession and started to pace the game to their liking.
- However, Madrid’s upped momentum received a temporary and damaging stop after Carvajal went down injured. The fullback left the field in tears, like Salah, and was replaced by Nacho.
- Real finished the half strongly and kept the ball extremely well against a suddenly slightly panicked Liverpool side. They created chances as well, the best of which fell to Benzema. The Frenchmen had a goal disallowed for offside after Karius saved superbly from Cristiano Ronaldo after a cross into the box.
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