On Saturday, May 26, at 2:45 p.m. ET, Real Madrid and Liverpool will contest the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League Final in Kiev, Ukraine. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the 2018 Champions League Final between two of Europe’s most dominate clubs.
A vintage N'Golo Kante tackle prevented the world's most feared counterattack from delivering. Liverpool's triumverate of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino has been devastating on the counter all season, and it looked as if they would break through first on Sunday with Sadio Mane charging at a retreating Gary Cahill.
Then N'Golo Kante tracked back and snuffed out the attack.
Liverpool booked their ticket to the 2018 Champions League Final against Real Madrid on Wednesday with a 7-6 aggregate win over Roma. Now that the semifinals are over, all the attention now shifts to the final in Kiev, and rightly so. But have Liverpool already won the match before it’s even started? Here’s why that might be the case.
Ever since Arsene Wenger announced he is leaving Arsenal at the end of the season (or he might have been sacked, we’ll never know), speculation and rumours have been rife about who will take the reigns at Arsenal when he is finished. In recent days, one name has emerged as a frontrunner for the Arsenal gig — Zeljko Buvac. A newspaper in Bosnia of all places broke the news that Buvac is all but set to take over at the Emirates.
In the aftermath of Real Madrid’s extremely fortunate 4-3 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich and Liverpool’s bonkers 7-6 win over Roma, expect two storylines to dominate the headlines in the buildup to Kiev: (1) this is a very different Real Madrid side than previous incarnations (let's be clear here: they’re charmed, not favored — they haven’t gotten the help that Barcelona got against PSG in 2017) and (2) if defending is an art, Liverpool is Jackson Pollock — their backline
Roma scored what may have been the prettiest match-winner in the Champions League this season. But the celebrations following the Radja Nainggolan goal vs Liverpool were as muted as could be, because the Reds had more than enough cushion to hold on for a 7-6 aggregate victory in the Champions League semifinals on Wednesday in Rome.
Liverpool is almost certainly into the 2018 Champions League Final holding, at the time of writing this, a 7–3 aggregate lead over Roma. They’ve equalled Roma’s away goal tally, but they’ve also conceded a brilliant own goal involving Real Madrid’s favorite defensive liability, Dejan Lovren.
The goal was scored by the greatest playmaker the Champions League has ever seen, James Milner, and I think you can already tell how special this is.
The first leg of Liverpool Roma lived up to the billing. After a cagey first half hour where Roma had the better chances, Mo Salah took over. His goal in the 35th minute sparked a Liverpool blitzkrieg.
It's getting silly, folks.
Mo Salah AGAIN. His 43rd goal in all competitions this season. pic.twitter.com/ng4fkRt5Ol
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 24, 2018
The atmosphere outside Anfield is full of smoke, fire and exactly what you'd expect from Liverpool fans. Before the first leg of the Champions League semifinal between Roma and Liverpool, at least this time around Liverpool fans have allowed the opposing players to enter the stadium without incurring significant safety risks. At least off the field.
The scenes outside Anfield looked like B roll footage from a post-apocalyptic Michael Bay movie.
Mo Salah is on another planet. After a tense first half hour of the match in which Roma had the game's best chances, Liverpool began to threaten with attacks over the top. After a few Sadio Mane missed chances, the PFA Player of the Year stepped up in a big way. Two vintage Mo Salah goals have spotted the Reds with a significant advantage at the half.