Real welcome back Cristiano Ronaldo after injury
Ronaldo returned to training at the beginning of the week and Real Madrid have a full-strength squad to face Liverpool in Kiev in 10 days time. The Portuguese forward suffered a sprained ankle during the El Clasico meeting against Barcelona a fortnight ago but he will be ready for the final.
Los Blancos were confident that their key man would be fit for the final and still have the last game of the league campaign next weekend to warm up for the final. Real will have one full week to prepare for the encounter against Klopp’s Liverpool.
Ronaldo can become the first player to win 5 UEFA Champions League finals.
With Ronaldo fit, Real will be quietly confident that they can upset Liverpool but he will have to be at his best if he is to leave yet another mark on the competition. Ronaldo has won the Champions League 4 times, 3 times with Real and once with Manchester United. He is the record scorer with 105 goals in the competition and lead’s the charts also this season with 15 goals so far.
- Ronaldo is the first player to score in 10 consecutive Champions League games
Ronaldo was average against Bayern Munich – the only team he did not score against this season – but managed to score against all other opponents he faced in the Champions League. He was superb in the quarter-finals against Juventus and imperious during the previous rounds as well. Real won the first leg 3-0 in Turin, with Ronaldo scoring twice, including a sensational bicycle kick.
The 33-year-old Portuguese forward has been absolutely amazing this season in the Champions League with a scoring ratio of 1.25, scoring a goal every 72 minutes in 1080 minutes played. Ronaldo’s top-speed in the competition was 31.km/hr. Who said he had lost his pace?
He has had 79 attempts on goal, scored 15 goals in 12 games alone and has scored 10 or more goals in the competition in the last 4 years – 12 last season, 16 in 2015-16 and 10 goals 2014-15. He extends his record to 105 goals in the Champions League.
Ronaldo has scored 4 goals in 4 Champions League finals
Maybe it’s the music. It’s his favourite competition and he particularly loves to score in the final. He has still not tasted defeat in the four finals he has played in and has scored four goals in as many games. Liverpool be warned.
Ronaldo scored two goals in last season’s final against Juventus during Real’s 4-1 thrashing of the Italian Champions. The season before that in the 2016 final, he scored the winning penalty during the penalty shoot-out against Atlético Madrid – though that one does not count as an individual goal and is tallied separately from the goals scored during normal play (including extra time, if any).
Two years prior in the 2014 final, again against Atlético Madrid, he scored a penalty in extra time as Real won 4-1. With Manchester United, Ronaldo scored United’s only goal after 26 minutes in the 2008 final against Chelsea in Moscow – Franck Lampard equalized in regular time but United beat Chelsea on penalties after extra time.
Real will be very confident that their star player will deliver the goods again. This time it’s a different opponent but it certainly is the same goal. He will be put in the best conditions to spearhead the Madrid attack and Liverpool defender’s will have more than a long night in Kiev.
Football Fanatix 