Tottenham Hotspur defender Cristian Romero has claimed that he wanted Liverpool to win the Champions League final on Saturday night.
Speaking to ESPN Romero said he was supporting Liverpool against Real Madrid.
“We watched the final yesterday, I wanted Liverpool to win,” said Romero, who signed for Spurs for £42.5m last summer. “For me, Liverpool played better, but Madrid is Madrid. Courtois is a phenomenon.”
Maybe everyone does want Liverpool to win after all, hey Pep!
Eyes of the world on Liverpool
The build-up to the Champions League final really does make it like no other match on the planet.
With the eyes of the football world on you, it must be difficult to play your normal game. We saw that with Liverpool during the 2019 final with Tottenham, and we saw it again on Saturday night.
Other factors do play a part of course. Two-thirds of Liverpool’s midfield wasn’t fully fit and they were also feeling the intensity of fighting for everything until the last day of the season.
But regardless of those things, Liverpool potentially need to learn how to manage these big occasions better.
Reds firing blanks in finals
It will be a big worry for Jurgen Klopp that his team haven’t scored over 330 minutes of football in cup finals this season.
That’s despite scoring an astonishing 147 goals across 63 games in all competitions.
The quality of the opponent should of course be taken into consideration. In a cup final you’re usually playing a higher calibre team, and that was the case for Liverpool.
Nevertheless, it will be something for Jurgen and his team to assess during the off-season. With the team finding the net so often, it isn’t as simple as merely adding a more clinical goalscorer to the team.
Instead, maybe it’s something for The Reds work with neuroscientists neuro11 to focus on.