Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson has warned Real Madrid will be facing a “different Liverpool” to the side they beat in the Champions League final four years ago.
The Reds are gearing up for a rematch with the La Liga giants after their 3-1 defeat in the final back in 2018. Two catastrophic errors from Loris Karius gifted Real the trophy after rolling the ball straight to Karim Benzema and spilling Gareth Bale’s long-range effort into his own net.
Bale also scored an emphatic opening goal with a bicycle kick while Sadio Mane grabbed what was the equalising goal at the time. Liverpool did find redemption a year later when they claimed their own triumph in the all-English final against Tottenham, beating their Premier League rivals 2-0 thanks to Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi.
Jurgen Klopp’s side have also won the Premier League, Club World Cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup since the final in Kiev and have arguably their best-ever squad as they aim to win their third trophy of the season. Benzema recently suggested Liverpool "haven't changed much", but Henderson, set to become the first Englishman to lead a team out in three Champions League finals, has assured Carlo Ancelotti’s side the team they will be facing is completely different to the team that lost four years ago.
“I would say they are facing a different Liverpool, for sure,” Henderson told The Guardian. “We did very well to get there when we played Madrid in the final in 2018. The lads were incredible. But we’ve grown since then. New players have come in, we’ve been successful, we’ve had bad moments as well within that period, and all of that you learn from. I definitely feel this is a different team to what Madrid faced a few years ago.”
Klopp has made a concerted effort to strengthen his squad in specific areas, namely signing Ibrahima Konate to add more steel to the backline and adding a world-class winger in Luis Diaz to their glittering attacking options. Key players such as Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho were also not at the club for the game in Ukraine. At the same time, Salah and Mane both started the final — but the pair are arguably in the form of their lives.
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Henderson has won almost every trophy possible in his time at Anfield, with only the Europa League final in 2016 escaping his grasp. And the 31-year-old revealed how he regained his appetite for winning trophies after landing a clean sweep when he won the Premier League and Champions League with the club.
“The Champions League was always a dream of mine to win, the Premier League was always a dream of mine to win, and when you do that you need to re-evaluate,” he added. “You need to process that and think: ‘What now?’ It’s about the next challenge and finding a way to want it even more.
“And I think when you do become successful and win trophies it makes you want to get back there even more and do it all over again. You learn that it’s about the journey and all the memorable games it takes to get there. This season has been incredible for that. To be in this position with a chance of a treble on the last game of the season is an achievement in itself. You have to give credit to the lads for that.”
