Federico Valverde has accused Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah of ‘disrespecting’ Real Madrid ahead of the Champions League final.
In an interview with Marca, as translated by ESPN, Valverde reacted to what he saw as a lack of respect from Salah towards his club.
The comments in question were the Egyptian claiming he preferred to face Madrid than Manchester City in the final.
“Obviously they’re (Salah’s) words that everyone can take however they want,” Valverde said. “I’m his opponent and it’s like disrespecting the Real Madrid badge, the players. The only thing we must do is give our best, try to show why we’re in the final and let’s hope we can give another trophy to the fans and to Real Madrid.”
Perhaps this is a case of Mo’s comments being mistranslated. As anyone who watched his interview can clearly see, rather than a lack of respect from Salah, he is merely hoping to settle some scores from 2018.
Let the games begin
Now that the domestic season’s are all over and done with, focus can properly turn to Liverpool’s date in Paris next Saturday.
The Reds were hoping to go into that game with a quadruple still on the cards. Instead, a win against Madrid would see Liverpool merely take home a treble.
Madrid did manage to win their national league, wrapping up the La Liga crown at the back end of April. As well as having no pressure on their games since then, they’ll also have two extra days off in the build-up to the game.
That’s because La Liga scheduled their last game of the season against Real Betis for Friday evening.
Los Blancos drew that game 0-0, with players like Toni Kroos and Luka Modric playing just 45 minutes in preparation.
Liverpool meanwhile had a tricky game against Wolves on Sunday afternoon. An injury to Thiago Alcantara further denting their hopes of victory.
The intensity was a little lacking from The Reds yesterday afternoon. Hopefully they can take a few days rest before heading into the game all guns blazing.