Leaked: How Real Madrid players reportedly feel about Champions League round of 16 draw against Liverpool 

Real Madrid players looking forward to facing Liverpool once again in the UEFA Champions League.
Real Madrid players looking forward to facing Liverpool once again in the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid players are content with drawing Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, as per journalist Jose Luis Sanchez (h/t @MadridXtra on Twitter).

The two teams have faced each other in three UEFA Champions League finals. The Reds won the 1981 European Cup final by a 1-0 scoreline. Los Blancos won last year's Champions League final against the same opponent via the same scoreline.

The most infamous meeting between the two teams came in the 2018 Champions League final. Madrid won 3-1 after Mohamed Salah was substituted in the first half after an injury and Loris Karious was allegedly concussed for a considerable part of the game.

Liverpool were arguably the better team in last year's final but all it took for them to lose was one defensive lapse in the second half. Vinicius Junior scored the only goal of the game after being left unmarked at the back post by Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Now, their players seem to be content with facing the Reds once again. They think the draw is fair and they fancy their chances against the six-time Champions of Europe.

Overall, the two teams have faced each other nine times in competitive European fixtures. Madrid have the edge with five wins while the Reds have won thrice.

For Jurgen Klopp, this will be a chance to eliminate Real Madrid for the first time as Liverpool's manager. The German tactician helped Borussia Dortmund eliminate Los Blancos in the semi-finals of the 2012-13 Champions League campaign.

Since then, Madrid have advanced at the expense of a Klopp-led team in four separate European campaigns.


Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp would be wary of Real Madrid threat

Klopp will be wiser this time around when he faces Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid.

Speaking in a post-match interview after losing to Madrid in last year's final, the German tactician highlighted how his team were beaten. He made particular mention of the Spanish giants' threat from counterattacks.

Klopp said (h/t Liverpool's official website):

"The problem is when you play against Real Madrid and they defend that deep, the counter-attacking threat they are is immense. You cannot ignore that. I saw us doing really a lot of good things, to be honest, but it was not enough and we take that."

Madrid set up to defend first and attack second, and Klopp's Liverpool played right into their hands. The La Liga outfit had just one shot on target, from which they scored.

Klopp will hope that this time around, the Reds are wiser to Madrid's threat when they win possession in their defensive third. It would also aid their cause if Thibaut Courtois doesn't replicate his match-winning heroics from last season's final.

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