Champions League: Liverpool and Real Madrid speak ahead of final – as it happened
Jürgen Klopp, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold speak from the Stade de France before their Champions League final against Real Madrid. Subscribe to Guardian News on YouTube ► http://bit.ly/guardianwiressub The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://bit.ly/3uhA7zg Website ► https://www.theguardian.com Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/theguardian Twitter ► https://twitter.com/guardian Instagram ► https://instagram/guardian
Transcript
up uh oh so [Music] okay good afternoon everyone welcome to this press conference ahead of the champions league final in paris sandini we have liverpool players trying to alexander arnold and andy robertson with us and we will then move on to the head coach when you ask your question please introduce yourself with the name of your media and your name and we have translations available in english uh spanish and french okay so we start with the first question here right in the middle please one second microphone microphone please here here we are question for each of you trent first of all how do you feel about the prospect of becoming a double european cup winner at the age of 23 and andy in 1981 alan kennedy scored the winner in paris against real madrid to win the european cup for liverpool what thought of you given to becoming the next liverpool left back to do likewise here in paris um yeah i mean to to to even being with a chance of winning a second champions league title at this young age is special for me i think um as it is for everyone you know there's been many many legends of the game that haven't haven't had these opportunities so to be here is um is a privilege for me but i think um it goes without saying that we've got a world-class opponent uh standing on our way tomorrow as a team so we need to be all at it to um to even come close to lifting that trophy again yeah to be honest uh i've not given any thought at all to be honest um i think mo got it spot on and wednesday's long as henders got his hands on the trophy then i don't really care what happens to be honest but like trent said obviously we've got a fantastic opponent ahead of us and um you know we can't quite focus on that if i do score then so be it will be a collector's item and it doesn't happen very often but um if it happens then so be it but i've not had a thought about that i've just all i've been thinking is trying to you know give the best version of myself in the game and if we all do that then that gives us the best possible chance to win not about that one question here in the middle please hello for both uh i am fernando valencia de baoz i'm freelancer i'm working for i started sao paulo and for placard and for metro uh two questions you have a very long season at a point that last sunday robertson you say that you are gutted so how you will have mental and legs for tomorrow and a very short question do you will have kiev feelings for tomorrow against el madri you lost in kev in the very special match so kev feelings in terms of the kiev game not really um i think we we wrote that wrong for herself in in madrid the following season where we won the champions league um that was that was us kind of um getting revenge on the competition as such and and becoming winners for the first time so i think the kiev game's long in the past now um for for all of us and um we're just focused on on this final and of course it's real madrid and of course people bring it up but we just focus on trying to win this game we want to win the trophy we you know when you get to the final you're so close but it's the hardest hurdle to get over and you know hopefully we can hopefully we can be the ones celebrating in terms of the mental fatigue um you know like i said it's the biggest game in world football so i don't think um you know we'll struggle we've had a full week's preparation obviously sunday was disappointing from our point of view um it was an emotional roller coaster but monday we let ourself you know feel bad about it have all the feelings about it and then tuesday morning we were all good to go um spring in our step and and ready for a massive game tomorrow there's a question here in the fourth row please hi miguel delaney the independent um a question to you either really does the occasion still feel as exciting or special or is it kind of just another big game now um i think i think you can try your best to say it's just another bit another big game but everything that comes around that you know um that the press conferences the media days um i train on a pitch and stuff like that is something that we don't do regularly so this thing's different about the game but i think we we embrace these um these occasions um these are the ones you know when you when you're working hard behind the scenes these are the these are the occasions that are in your mind and that's what what makes you all that stuff further so for us no we're excited to be here i think we've we feel like we deserve to be here um we haven't got here through luck we've had a a tough run we had a a an incredibly tough group stage um and we've been able to see off all our opponents so far but like i said before there's one more game um last game of the season for for us as a team as a club um and it's it's the special game you know it's the one that everyone wants to play in it's the it's the special competition um it's the game of the season so to be here is um it's good but to win it would be even better next question over here in the front please hi hey jesus it's been a very long season for you for both of you for all the team within some injuries in the last few weeks madrid could have time to just relax after winning the league early you have to fight until the end until the last fake final until the last week day on premier league uh how big is the toilet are you paying with us and if you think that those couple of weeks is a big advantage for madrid to this final yeah um look they've obviously had a bit more relaxed preparation obviously wrapped up their league two three weeks ago um you know been able to probably relax a little not play as many games maybe not play as you know the highest tempo and things like that but you know out of this season we wanted to fight for everything and we knew what it was going to take and we knew you know how hard it was going to be on our bodies but we're in the best possible shape we're in you know it's our last game as trent said as as a team for the season we've came through a lot um you know yeah we've had injuries and yeah we've had problems but you know the lads are fully fit we're full of confidence um and it's important that we we take the the competitive nature of what has been an incredible season into this last game we want to end on a high but so did real madrid you know they've had a fantastic season one in the league um you know been part of incredible games in the champions league it's been a joy to watch really and then yeah obviously tomorrow now we we try and stand in their way and we know they'll come in full of confidence we know you know when you're at real madrid and you get to finals like this you're expected to win but you know obviously liverpool have got the same standards you know our fans demand a lot from us and i think we've delivered well this season but we want to finish on a high for them there's one at the front here third row please on time sports i want to ask trent to face manchester city fourth time this season or the final of champions league which is more harder in the field and for andy uh this season you had in front of you manny luis diaz sometimes jota due to you what's the difference between the three um i think yeah except we play mad city a lot i think um they've they they pose a kind of a different threat um i think a champions league final brings different other pressures different you know it's an occasion and it's not just a league game it's like i said before to the game of the season so that adds that to it no matter who you're playing against you throw around majid into that mix and it makes it even bigger um and kind of um i mean two powerhouses and of of european football um who are going for you know big big trophies every every season so and this one means a lot to both sets of fans um so i would say that when when you're playing around with in the champions league final it's it's it's got to be the biggest game of the season um so yeah that's my comments on that we've played with different players in the um in front of me it's you know we we've got quality you know up and down the squad i think we've shown that with making changes things like that but the you know the mentality and everything that stays the same and we've shown that this season and um yeah i've had a couple of people in front of me and they're all different they all play you know the the role slightly different it's just about trying to adapt to that and um you know i think you know i've had a good relationship with oldham and different games that we've played and same with trent if other people have been playing ahead of him and things like that so that's what happens when you've got quality in your squad you make changes to the team which which doesn't weaken it in any way um and it's just different partnerships and relationships all over the pitch and we've been pretty good at it this season you know not losing rhythm by you know changing too many or into that just all the lads have been completely focused stayed in the rhythm and um you know i think that's why we've we've had a you know a good season in terms of you know winning more games and then obviously not there was one in the middle here in the white shirt please kosovo uh losing the title in premier league in last minutes uh do you think that will affect the game tomorrow question for both players uh no i wouldn't say so not at all to be honest i think you know we put that behind us um i think we have the experience this season to focus on the competition that we have ahead of us uh we've played in all four competitions and got all the way in all of them so i think for us we've we've found it um useful to you know forget about the other competitions and focus on the one that you're playing in and see this one's a champions league final whatever's happened before um last week yeah it was disappointing um it was hard to take at the time but like rubble said you put that behind you um takes a day or two to get over and then you you've got a champions league final to prepare for and what better way to get over a bit of disappointment than than to come here to paris an amazing venue um and play um you know in the in the best club competition in the world yeah just exactly what trent says um you know the season went the way it did in the premier league and obviously sunday was um you know a roller coaster of a day more more so for probably our fans and everyone round about than us because we didn't have a clue what was going on in the the pitch we were just trying to get our job done and like you said we we took time to get over the disappointment sunday night was was tough of course it was you've ended the season with one of your goals not achieved but like you know it's the biggest game in in club football so it's quite easy to get over and put your disappointment to one side and then get excited about the next huge game and and that's what we've got tomorrow night so we're all excited we're all prepared the the best possible way we can and you know mentally and physically and you know we really look forward to the challenge tomorrow okay we can take one more here in the front please the gentleman in the polo uh brad cox from valve uk this is a question for trent um vinicius junius um from real madrid has attempted the most dribbles and created the most chances in the champions league this season do you look forward to that challenge and how do you plan to stop him tomorrow absolutely i think um the whole occasion i i'm looking forward to um i think um when you're playing against real madrid you expect to come up against world-class players which i think every single one of us tomorrow will be doing there'll be battles all over the pitch um but yeah we've got game plan we've got we've got our plans around how we're going to deal with with all the threats that they they pose and that's what vanessa's himself he's an odd london player and he showed that this season especially and with his goals assist and and his threat and um there is an exciting player to watch but nothing tomorrow we understand as a team we've got a job to do um as individuals as a collective as a group to go out there and win and um yeah the individual battles will be a part of that but it's a team game and the team wins at the end of the day okay thank you very much and we move on to the head coach thank you so this one yep hello okay again please uh introduce yourself with the name and the name of your organization and um we'll start here in the first row again in the middle please right in the middle there vinny from sky sports hi jurgen can you describe the mood within the camp and can you also bring us up to date with how thiago is has he trained is he fully fit to play and has fabinho come through this week of training as well without any problems and is he match ready mood is good very good i'm really excited about being here now um getting a feeling for a stadium for location and yes that's all good and um yeah it looks good for both fabinho trained completely normal thiago trend yesterday with the team will train today and then we go from there okay there's one in the middle please in the white shirt hi eugen um uh armstrong i'm from vivaro media armenia uh tomorrow you have the chance to win champions league with liverpool for the second time uh will this victory uh be sweeter and more special than the one in 2019 because of the team you are facing tomorrow the most decorated team in this competition real madrid i have no idea how it will feel if we win it to be honest you have to ask me that question after the game in a moment we are more in the mood to prepare that we can give them a real game a proper fight um yes you're right this most decorated club it's a team where some players can win in the fifth time it's a team where the manager can win the fourth time the lord says a lot obviously so we cannot buy this experience now or get it overnight the only thing i can say we are we feel if not the same experience but we experienced meanwhile as well we are here the third time in five years that's special as well um so now the only thing we are thinking about is how to repair the game how to play the game and these kind of things i didn't think for a second how it would feel if because i'm i'm patient enough to wait for that moment and tell you then okay right behind hi yeah again uh fred caldera tnt sports brazil um i know you have been answering a lot of questions about the revenge and um when you hear the other boys it seems to be quite specific for mo at least the intensity of it of of how he feels for this game and how you as a manager make sure that it helps him to play even better instead of being in his way as in taking over too much this nobody has to worry about more and that he takes too much it's completely normal it was a very special situation we all lost the that day but um he got injured early in the game but was his boss he's now in a very good shape it was then in a very good shape so obviously it feels for him different you ask him that's a normal feeling we all get motivated by different things it's not that we have i have here 26 27 players and they all get motivated by different things that's completely fine and i have no problem with that the only thing is if that's the only motive but it's not a case in most in most cases it's the only uh motivation he has but it's normal that he wants to put the things right we want to put things right we want to um we don't we didn't forget what happened that time but it's just a while ago and we cannot not come here and um i tomorrow i show the movie of that game and that that's enough motivation for the game that makes no sense we have so many reasons that we give our absolute everything tomorrow night and this might be one reason but not the reason that's it you're in the middle please yep [Music] hi yeah jurgen um ian laiden from the daily mail um the pitch is new um even from the press box it looks a bit fresh and a bit lush um you have any concerns about that and in particular do you feel that you'll be able to let the players train freely on it um this evening oh yeah um usually when i say the pitch looks new that's good news because of pictures this pitch is new since yesterday that's um obviously not best news uh but but for both teams i have no idea how it will be now out there on the pitch but we will do a completely normal session what we planned um to do it's not a lot obviously in a moment in time of this moment of the season um i saw the refs a bit with their sessions that the good news is the ball drops normal that's helpful um and you can see the the lines where they put the different pieces of the pitch in that's obviously not probably what we are all used to but again that's not not a problem because the good news is both teams play on this pitch um that somebody thought it's a good idea to bring the pitch a day before the game to the stadium that's a an interesting idea to be honest but it's like it is and it will not it killed didn't kill my mood for a percent um i'm really happy that we are here and we would have played on tong if you ask me so that's that's fine now we are here and we play the game and that's it as long as both teams have the same um circumstances i'm fine with it okay the gentleman in the white shirt please [Music] hello coach uh karen value for tv snack monday i have two questions the first one about sadio mani can you tell us his mindset prior to this final um because we heard some rumors about sending him to um to bayern munchen and he has a very long season with the afghan and uh with the world cup qualifiers as well so what is his mindset prior to this final and my second question is about navigator because he has a very consistent season for the first time i think since he arrives in liverpool because there were no in major injury for him this season so what is your view on navigator season thank you so um celia's in a shape of his life for sure he's in a brilliant shape i'm a joy to watch him in the moment in training in the game um we asked him a lot football asked him a lot this year an incredible long season a lot of finals um and these kind of things so that's for sure so far one of the most successful as well for him and for us um the bayern munich euromas i i couldn't care less in a moment we are all all fully focused on this game um um sadio's completely focused on the game he knows exactly how important is to him you know important is to us and um so no concerns completely normal it's not the first time in my career that before decisive games bayern munich rumors coming up don't know exactly why what i did that that happens uh but um no problem at all um [Music] no yeah nobody right he how it is for all of us especially for players more than for me it's important that we can train consistently and play consistently um that's possible when you're not injured and that's what happened to nabi this year he's in a perfect age his mom got more and more experienced after the adaptation from the beginning when celia came here it was all that's the normal period when you arrive at liverpool or when you arrive in my team that you usually need time to adapt in this area especially in midfield for being you needed that time and these kind of things the problem was when after nabi adapted he got injured so that or in the time already and that's not helpful so now he's as well in the shape of his life i would say um really good played a really good season for us incredibly important players so um that's it right here the gentleman yeah in the jacket uh hello jurgen it's john cross from the daily mirror i was just gonna ask you again about the pitch if i may does that potentially affect the game as a spectacle and does that even matter just as long as you win and i just wonder