Champions League final: The form of Liverpool vs the grit of Real Madrid

Liverpool go into the Champions League final this time as the form favourites is no secret. They have had a remarkable season and have been top class.

They narrowly missed out of keeping their chances of a historic and unprecedented quadruple alive when they were pipped to the Premier League title by perennial rivals Manchester City by just one point, but that might just give Jurgen Klopp and his team that extra bit of motivation to throw everything including the kitchen sink at winning the holy grail of European club football. On the other side though stand a gritty Real Madrid.

The Spanish giants, who are the most successful team in the history of the competition (13 titles) have defied logic and pulled themselves back from the brink of elimination in the knockouts three times from the Round of 16 to the semi-finals, knocking out teams like PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City to make sure that they made their way to yet another Champions League final. In Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti, the summit clash will see two of the best man managers in professional football today going toe to toe, trying to outthink and outsmart the other.

Ancelotti stands on the brink of a record fourth Champions League title, having recently become the first manager to win titles in the five major European leagues (La Liga, Serie A, EPL, Bundesliga and Ligue 1). Klopp meanwhile is someone who has transformed Liverpool into a win machine.

The Reds already have the League Cup and the FA Cup titles under their belt and have also tasted Champions League glory before with Klopp at the helm of affairs. Two former footballers who have played tons of English club football, Ashley Westwood (Sheffield Wednesday, Northampton Town, Chester City) and Mark