Liverpool legend Ian Rush has expressed sympathy with Chelsea in regards to scheduling ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup Final - and believes Erling Haaland could be the ‘missing piece of the puzzle’ for Manchester City in their quest to win the Champions League.
Liverpool head to Wembley in search of their eighth FA Cup victory but their first since 2006 as they continue their quest for an unprecedented quadruple. Chelsea are in their third successive final in the competition having lost to Leicester City and Arsenal in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Tuesday night while Chelsea played on Wednesday evening, winning 3-0 at Leeds United. And Rush believes that this could hand the Reds an advantage. “Tuchel has pointed out that Liverpool have an extra night’s rest following their last Premier League game,” he told Gambling.com. “He has a point, to be fair. At this level, given how important fitness is to the top teams, recovery time is absolutely crucial.
FA CUP FINAL LIVE: All the build-up and full match coverage from Wembley of Liverpool v Chelsea
“Both Liverpool and Chelsea play with high intensity and their preparation is so meticulous, so I can empathise with Tuchel for being aggrieved at Liverpool getting an extra 24 hours to ready themselves.”
Rush also believes that City’s £51m acquisition of Haaland from Borussia Dortmund that was announced earlier this week will make life even tougher for Liverpool next year in catching their rivals. He said: “It’s pretty remarkable City are where they are without an out-and-out forward in their ranks, but the strength of their squad means they’ve had the ability to try players in different positions and still score plenty of goals, but Haaland will give them a more obvious focal point.
"There’s no getting around the fact that [the] signing is going to make Manchester City even stronger next season. They tried and failed to sign Harry Kane last summer so we always knew they were in the market for a new striker, and few would argue that Haaland makes sense. He doesn’t have any Premier League experience but he’s still so young it’s a signing for the future as well as the present. He’s expected to start scoring goals right from the off, but even if he doesn’t hit the ground running he’ll get the time he needs to find his feet.”
Rush also feels that City’s various Champions League heartbreaks over recent years in the latter stages of the competition were a motivating factor in signing the Borussia Dortmund striker. He said: “City have so many good players around him it’s difficult to see anything other than him scoring week-in-week-out, but I suspect the main reason they’re signing him is to try and finally get over the line in the Champions League.
“When you look back at their semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, they missed a string of chances to put the tie to bed. Haaland would have gobbled up those chances and City might have won 6-3 instead of 4-3 and saw out that lead in Madrid. But things didn’t work out for them and maybe that’s why they’ve moved so quickly to wrap up the deal with next season’s Champions League already in mind.
“For a young man, he’s already got plenty of experience in the Champions League, and his record speaks for itself. Is he the missing piece of the puzzle when it comes to City conquering Europe? Quite possibly.”
