Toni Kroos has disagreed with Karim Benzema 's claim that Liverpool "haven't changed much over the years" and believes the Reds are a 'better team' than in 2018 ahead of Saturday's Champions League final.
The Reds take on Kroos' Real Madrid in Paris this weekend as the two sides battle it out to lift Europe's elite club prize. Jurgen Klopp 's men are aiming to win their third trophy of the season, while Los Blancos recently lifted the La Liga title for the second time in three years.
It is the first time the teams have met in the final since Real's 3-1 success four seasons ago, where two errors from Loris Karius and a Gareth Bale wonderstrike handed the Spanish side the victory. This was the last time Los Blancos won the Champions League and Kroos admitted Liverpool have improved since that game.
He said: "Honestly, I think Liverpool is a better team than in 2018. They managed to retain their best players and signed a few more.
"Thiago sets the standards in midfield, they are still very strong at the back and I think, In terms of consistency , they were the best team in Europe this season.
"But it's still only one game and we also have to take into account that we eliminated them last season in the quarterfinals. The thing is 50%".
In contrast, Benzema feels differently despite there being plenty of changes to Klopp's Liverpool team since that night in Kyiv. "They're very good," he explained. "They haven't changed much over the years. But in the end, we have to look at our game. And if we do our thing, then what happens happens. I'm confident."
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Liverpool's starting line up from the last time the sides met in April 2021 contains names that are no longer present at Anfield such as Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips - so Benzema may be in for surprise when he comes up against the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip.
Their team from 2018, meanwhile, featured the likes of Dejan Lovren and Gini Wijnaldum who have since moved on.
And Sadio Mane agrees with Kroos' assessment that things are different, as he admitted this week "a lot of things have changed" in the four years since that final.
"There's no pressure, nothing at all," The Senegal international insisted. "I think in between four years a lot of things have changed, we have more experience and more quality in the team.
"I think it is just an exciting game, I think we have all forgotten about what happened in 2018 and Real Madrid was a better team - they deserved to win the final, congratulations but it's going to be a different game."
