Liverpool vs Real Madrid: Where the Champions League final will be won and lost

It is not often that a manager reveals his tactical plan in the build-up to the biggest match of his club’s season, but that is exactly what Carlo Ancelotti has done ahead of Real Madrid’s Champions League final against Liverpool in Paris on Saturday night.

Aiming for a record-breaking fourth triumph in European football’s showpiece event, the veteran Italian openly discussed his team’s setup with Spanish journalists earlier this month.

‘[We will use a] 4-3-3 that will sometimes change to a 4-4-2,’ the Italian coach explained. ‘I think there is no defined system. Sometimes to put pressure on the pivot, as we did against City, you go from 4-3-3 to 4-4-1-1. The idea does not change much, just a little the way of defending the opponent, of putting pressure on them.’

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Casemiro, Modric, Kroos; Vinicius, Benzema, Valverde.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson, Keita; Diaz, Mane, Salah.

The truth is that despite revealing his blueprint, Ancelotti has given very little away. Real Madrid will be playing the way they have done since he returned to replace Zinedine Zidane last summer, and in the mould of every Ancelotti team which has gone before.

What is interesting is that when both sides line-up for kick-off, they will ostensibly look the same, bar the colour of their kits — 22 men, each 11 arranged in a 4-3-3 in front of their respective goalkeeper. But there are enough profound differences in how those two separate 4-3-3s will function once the whistle goes that mean both sides are going to have plenty of opportunity to exploit one another’s weaknesses.

For Real, the key to the hybrid 4-3-3/4-4-2 Ancelotti discussed is the