This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane has said that his team would beat Liverpool if they draw them in the next round of the Champions League.
What did he say?
Los Merengues qualified for the second round of the competition after finishing second to PSG in Group A. Of their six matches, they won three, drew two and lost one.
After his side’s final match of this first stage, in which they beat Club Brugge 3-1, the World Cup winner was asked about Monday’s draw. In jest, he said: “If we play Liverpool, we will eliminate them.
“We can’t do anything about the draw.”
Wrong style
Big words from the 47-year-old, but nothing that you wouldn’t expect from a man who won it all as a player. He will fear absolutely no-one, not even a Liverpool team that are the European champions and have not lost in their last 33 Premier League games. Even if these quotes were in jest, there is no doubt he believes he could get one over on the Reds.
Can you name the result these iconic Liverpool images belong to? Give it a go now…
However, whilst his confidence is admirable, his team’s style does not fit in well with the one needed to defeat Jurgen Klopp’s team. A loss for the Anfield outfit is rare these days, but they have come out second-best once this campaign, against Napoli at the Stadio Olimpico back in September.
In that 2-0 defeat, Carlo Ancelotti had a game plan. His team managed to limit their opponents to just four shots on target – one less than their own five – and they got themselves up the pitch quickly. They had just 48% possession, but still managed to score twice, and as those five efforts on target to four show, they still managed to be more dangerous than their opponents.
In that match, Lorenzo Insigne was taken off after just 65 minutes, picking up a 6.01 WhoScored rating. He is their best dribbler, managing 1.5 per Serie A match and 4.3 in the Champions League, but up against Trent Alexander-Arnold, he struggled. On the opposite wing, Jose Callejon, who has not made one successful dribble in Europe, picked up a WhoScore rating of 7.24, winning five fouls and forcing Andy Robertson into making a tackle that gave away a penalty.
With 50.4% possession, Napoli are not a side who hog the ball and try to break down sides by passing them to death. That isn’t necessarily Real’s game either, but their 55.9% per match is considerably higher. In their 2-2 draw with PSG – a similar calibre of opponent to Liverpool – they had the ball 53% of the time.
In Real Madrid’s side, there are a number of wide men who love to dribble. Eden Hazard has 4.4 per match in La Liga and 2.8 in the Champions League, whilst Rodrygo had 1 and 2 respectively. Vinicius Junior, too, has 2.2 per La Liga match. Considering he has started just one of the four games he has taken part in in Europe, not much weight can be given to his 0.5 per match in that tournament.
Aerially, too, Zidane’s side could suffer against Liverpool. The 10.2 aerial battles they have won per match is not only 5.6 less than Liverpool, but it ranks them 30th out of the 32 sides in the group stages. In that match against the Reds, the Italian team won 13 duels in the air to their opponents’ nine.
Considering the players at his disposal, Zidane could certainly hope to give Liverpool a scare. But, unless he sprung a surprise and changed his team’s style, it would surely be a clash that Klopp would relish. The former Juventus midfielder should hope they do not come out alongside the Premier League team on Monday.
In other news, Liverpool fans react to one man’s comments on the Everton job.
