Great OP and wonderful previews by many. It really feels like something special is brewing up. The tactical analysis, the atmosphere brewing is wonderful.
As we head to Kiev it seems the there is something in the air, you cannot express it but you can only feel it. In the air there is blowing a war cry it seems as if from far away but getting nearer. From the western horizon there is a Red Storm coming to Kiev. In the arena will arrive a group of lads, young and strong, led by a freakish general and an army of supporters behind them with fiery hearts and the hunger to conquer Europe. To win is to know that there will be songs written about this day and legends in tales far away will be retold many a times in front of the fire.
Madrid will go in as the favourites. They are a colossus striding the continent. That suits us, we will prefer it that way. We will go with our multitude of flags but singing the same song as a team. They will come with one flag but each star singing his own song. That is where the battle will be fought. We are a team, we sing from the same sheet and each player picks the tune from where the last one left it off. We do not aspire to do Mozart and build the tempo up. We are heavy metal, we start with a Guitar riff and a roll of drums. We create music which makes the heart go thump thump and makes you roll back in its aggression.
Madrid will not have faced any team like us before, Klopp will ensure that. There are pressing teams and then there is Liverpool. Madrid cannot press us from the front, Benzema and Ronaldo are legendary figures but waning in strength. We are the in prime of our youth. Wijnaldum, Hendo, Firmino, Mane will weave patterns in Midfield that they simply cannot chase. If we cannot be closed down high up the pitch then the only way to stop us is a low midfield block and a co-ordinated defence. Madrid has players singing different songs on the pitch, so they will be bust trying to catch each other play rather than ours.
Salah and Mane will occupy their defenders and Gini will run in from deep. Can they catch them with aging legs and waning strength? Will Kroos and Casemiro be on the same tune? Will they lose Firmino in the crowd of reds? All this makes for a great game. Make no mistake, each of their players are battle scarred and carry the spoils of many a battle. Wise and experienced they are. Fools would we be to ignore their strengths. We do not fight one on one in this game or in any game. we fight as a unit. We will lose the 1-1 battles many a times in the day but we will win the 2nd ball or the 3rd or the 4th. We will not give up. We will run till we have no breaths left and a heart to show for it at the end.
Liverpool under Klopp is a force of nature at times. When we start our drum roll, teams are hit by a red storm the likes of which they have not experienced. There is no escaping that storm, every big match we will create and have created such a storm. It will happen again in Keiv, a Red Blizzard and we hope on a scale never before seen. We have to tell our lad not to lose their heads and start singing different songs when the storm starts. If we sing together we will win. There is a 12 player on the pitch after all who will orchestrate the songs.
We will never stop chasing the ball, we want to chase it. We are most dangerous when we snatch it suddenly. We do not create a symphony with the ball. We disrupt Madrid playing their fancy tune, we jump in uninvited with jarring sounds and screech of metal. We thrive on chaos and prosper in disarray. Their organized defensive army is not the best we have faced. We have faced better and carve them like knife through butter. We will suffer losses but we are relentless in our attack. We will pick ourselves off and drive the next spear at the heart of their defence. Madrid have a fight on their hands the likes of which they have not faced before.
They opponents are fierce in their attack with led by wily men (Ronaldo and Benzema), old on body but not in spirit. They will carry memories of battle and bodies left on the battlefield defeated in their wake. They will come to Kiev hoping to drive at our fortress guarded by Karius. They will face a battle fierce not with soldiers putting up walls in our own fortress (Penalty Box) but a battle in the field 40 yards out. They will want to go at our our leader in defence Big Djik and Dejan but there will be a surprise. To reach him they will have to first do battle against our midfield of Hendo, Milly and Gini along with the wingers. We do not defend and put up walls. They know better than any other team to break down siege walls. We defend by attacking Ronaldo 40 yards out. We defend by picking Benzema's pocket 30 yards out. Our lads will be nipping at their heels, prodding them and teasing them with blocks. They will toil and tire to reach the walls but we do not do walls.
We do our defending in the wide open spaces. Spaces where a loss of ball for Madrid will result in a cavalry charge at their goal and we have some fast horses. If they do breach our midfield and move to the heart of defense, they will kind a keeper closing down spaces faster than they open. They will find a colossus in Big Djik to hammer them into submission for every header and dribble. Our defense once maligned is now quite fearsome. Yes we do get breached sometimes but that is because we do not defend ever by putting up walls. We always defend to create a attack. We are the only team doing that and thus I say, beware Madrid. We lure you in to score and we will fly out of the traps faster then you can turn with the ball. Can they run back quickly enough? After 20 mins their Legends will start to doubt if they can throw bodies forward at will.
The Madrid infantry in midfield is quick, well drilled and will aid in their attacking forays. Our lads will not attack them just from the front. We will have our best champions behind them waiting to sneak up behind and steal the ball. Each champion as deadly as any in the world today. The Madrid midfield that we have looked up to with awe so far will suddenly have difficulty finding spaces and passes. They will be caught between defending their fortress or to stay in support of their fallen comrades. We will run swift and fast as arrows at the heart of their defence. Their midfield is great at finding spaces inspite of what we do and they will break out of these skirmishes and launch counter attacks. Then we will be evenly matched. Ronaldo up against Trent. But Trent will not fight 1-1 with him, he will fight with a wily Milly at his back ready to pounce and tackle. Robbo has come from the streets, he is a battler we trust in. Every time he comes against a legend, it usually ends with an handshake of mutual admiration. The lad is making a name for himself and it is only 6 months that he has stepped in the big game. In front of him would be Mane in open spaces and he can turn and drive at the Madrid fortress before they can say Que.
So with that we know how Klopp will set his armies to defend. The lads will not put up walls but will pounce and bite every time the balls is with them. Sometimes we will face their legends inside our fortress and concede. NO shame in that as we only pick ourselves up for the next foray forward. Roll on the drums and raise the Bugle in the stands for our lads will go to battle again.
In attack, we have a triumvirate of knights as fast as horses. Sometimes they even do apologize for humiliating their opponents in battle. They are men who hold their head high on the battles. They pick out their friends in the melee and pass them the ball. They play their music in chaos, their rhythm is not waltz but chaotic. They sometimes miss beats and are out of tune. When they play in tune, then they can create a tango which makes opponents swoon on the ground or be stunned in inaction.Watch our for one or 2 of lads to join in a run to their fortress with no reason but to capture the sight of goal posts. If there is a free ball hanging around these guys love to put them in the net. We love doing that as opponents never know which one is running towards goal with touristy interest. It is organized chaos by our freakish genius general.
Every move will be orchestrated with songs, drums and war cries by the tribes from Scouse land. They have faced many opponents but none like the 12 man who will rain down fire and blood from above. When our tribe sings, it is a thing of beauty and magic. it floats down from above to reassure our lads that we have their backs. It says to them to rise and strike at their opponents when the last vestiges of strength have left their sinews. it cries tears when our lads jump for joy and it utters a war cry when our lads are felled unfairly. It is a different tribe, a tribe proud of the history and which knows not how to bow in defeat. We fall, we pick ourselves up, we pick our spears up and continue till we fall for the last time.
We are going to Kiev, to play and we go singing, dancing, shouting, boisterous and fierce, snarling and biting (Suarez took it too literally). We are a pack of warriors like hungry wolves, young and strong, waiting to trap the victim in its jaws. Madrid are in decline, an aging team, men who have achieved it all and in a arena on their farewell. It will be a long hard battle. Boys against Men. Experience v/s Energy. Guile v/s Pace. Skill v/s Strength. The battle for Kiev will not be forgotten easily irrespective of the outcome. My money is on the young lads. On Trent and Robinson. On Mane, Salah and Firmino. On Big Djik and Dejan. On Gini, Milly and Hendo. Lads fighting for glory on a hungry belly. Lads who have nothing to lose. Lad who stand to write themselves in the history books.