Carlo Ancelotti has warned Mohamed Salah that Real Madrid are out to get their own revenge on Liverpool in Saturday's hotly-anticipated Champions League final.
Salah has persistently mentioned how losing the 2018 final to Ancelotti's side will give the Reds added incentive to beat Los Blancos. But the Italian has pointed out how Real Madrid's 1-0 defeat to Liverpool 41 years ago - thanks to an Alan Kennedy goal, also in Paris - means that his team are also looking to get one over on the men from Merseyside.
"It may be a motivation but Madrid lost a final in Paris to Liverpool," Ancelotti told a pre-match news conference on Tuesday, recalling one of only three European Cup finals that his club have lost. "It could be revenge for us too."
Out of 16 total appearances, Los Blancos have emerged victorious on 13 occasions, the last of which was against Liverpool in Kiev four years ago, back when Zinedine Zidane was in the dugout and the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo were involved. Early in the match, Salah was taken off injured following a collision with Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, who now plays for Paris Saint-Germain.
That night, Jurgen Klopp and co left empty-handed but won the competition the following year against Tottenham Hotspur at the home of Real's rivals, Atletico. Salah, who has enjoyed arguably the finest season of his career and already lifted two trophies this term, is looking to end another memorable campaign by avenging his Kiev nightmare.
Moments after Los Blancos reached the final by spectacularly beating Manchester City in extra-time, the 29-year-old tweeted: "We have a score to settle," before declaring that it was an "easy answer" when asked who he wanted to play at the Stade de France. "If you ask everybody [at Liverpool], everyone wanted that game," Salah added to Sky Sports.
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"I don't know why we're not allowed to talk about it but I'm okay to talk about it - I wanted that game! I wanted to play Real Madrid before that game [against City]. Of course, I'm not giving too much credit to them. They're an unbelievable team with a great coach, great players. When they asked me who I wanted, I said Madrid. It's an easy answer."
Klopp also gave his verdict on the Real Madrid rematch in the aftermath of a dramatic semi-final round in which his side beat Villarreal 5-2 on aggregate. "When we lost that final [in 2018] actually my favourite solution would've been let's play the final again next year and against Real Madrid, to be honest - that was in that moment," the Reds boss explained.
"But we faced Tottenham, which was absolutely fine, in Madrid. It seems to be our destiny. It was strange and unlucky for City, but what Madrid did is outstanding. They got through against PSG, Chelsea and City.
"We said it before we played Villarreal, if you knockout Bayern [Munich] you deserve to be in the semi-final - and if you knockout these three guys, then you definitely deserve to be in the final. They are now the massive favourites with all the experience they have and all these kind of things. We are more experienced than we were, probably, but it's obviously not to compare.
"A lot of players are still in for them and for us, which is a good sign as well. It will be great. We were not happy that night, that's clear, but it is a while ago. I'm happy to go there and give it a try, but until then, there are a lot of games to play and you will ask so many questions about Real Madrid between now and then, so I think we can stop here.
"What Carlo did there is absolutely incredible - and if you go to a final, I think it's good to have the idea that you want to win it and that's what we will work on in the week between the 22nd and the 28th, not before."
