I've been living in Madrid for nearly two years and it's really opened my eyes to the club and what it's all about. Those things you hear about their fans only being happy to win the European Cup aren't true; they're only happy if they win the European Cup AND play exciting attacking football at the same time. Expectancy really is through the roof but then they are a club accustomed to winning everything, so why not?
We have a "love affair" with the European Cup, it feels a massive part of our identity and when we brought it home it really did feel like we'd brought it home. But these now have the chance for 13. 13! It's ridiculous. The league has been gone for them since December and they have proved to be a different animal entirely in the Champions League.
Last year when they won it there was a gigantic party, everyone spilled out into the streets to celebrate. Plaza de Cibeles in the centre of the city is their historic area of celebration and many thousands of people stayed there all night and all the next day, the tradition being that they don't leave until the team has returned and showed off the trophy, their trophy, to the fans. Their love of the European Cup is every bit as fierce and unflinching as ours is.
The expectancy to play exciting, attacking football will surely play into our hands. I wanted Munich to win the semi from a neutral point of view but from ours, Madrid really are the better opponent to face. Heynckes is the type of tactical manager that can really take a flying, attacking team and negate them. They'd have come with a plan to take the sting out of us and expose our frailties, and would've set up specifically to do so. Madrid, while hardly being oafs tactically, will play their game first and believe they have the matchwinners all over the pitch to get them over the line. They certainly won't be coming into next Saturday night thinking of doing a job on Salah, Mane and Firmino.
We will have our chances on the night, i'm absolutely confident of that. We have a great chance. But it is true that they've got match winners everywhere, ready to pounce if we don't take our chances. They do your head in to watch in the way that they find a way to win. We certainly don't want to go a goal down and have to chase anything. They often seem to play without any kind of system or distinct style, and rely on their big players to see them through. This will not be easy for us. We could blitz them 3 nil in the first half but i'd still fully expect to get to the last minute with the game still being alive. They don't know when they are beaten, especially in this competition. They are winners, love them or loathe them, and we've got to put in a near perfect performance if we want to tear their hands off of that trophy and bring it back to Merseyside again.
I can't fucking wait. This time next week and we'll all be in bits. I think we'll win it but looking at it logically it is so 50/50. One team full of youth and athleticism, the other full of experience and know-how. What I do know is that it's two beautiful clubs, two absolute heavyweights of the game and it's probably THE two teams who want that trophy the most. Give me these in the final over Man City or PSG any day of the week.
Last year in the morning of the semi-final draw, I went into the lunch hall in school and said to a little group of Atletico fans, 7 years old, that they'd drawn Madrid in the semis. I expected excitement and what I got were heads in hands and a boy who decided he didn't want to eat his lunch any more. He was inconsolable! I didn't understand it. Then they thrashed Atleti 3 nil in the first leg, and I was there at the Calderon for the second. The place was absolutely fucking bouncing. The last ever Champions League tie at the stadium, and within 20 minutes Atleti were 2 nil up. It was happening. Finally they'd get some revenge. Madrid were flailing. And then one Atleti mistake, seconds before half time, and Madrid got the away goal. Isco and Modric preceded to deny Atleti any possession of the ball and they totally killed it. That's what Real Madrid do. They can just fucking kill a team, no matter the strength of feeling, no matter the circumstances of the game. They are cold, ruthless, winners. I realised then why that kid lost his apetite at the thought of playing them. They can't ever be underestimated. We'll have fire in our bellies but they'll have ice in their veins.
