It has been a long old 2021/22 Premier League campaign for Liverpool and manager Jurgen Klopp, and although the historic quadruple could not quite be achieved this year, a dream treble is still on the cards for our German gaffer and all that stands in his way of lifting a third trophy this season is Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid side.
Having taken the battle for the trophy down to the last ten minutes of the final day of action before Manchester City unfortunately pipped us by a point, fans can be incredibly proud of the efforts of the side in closing the 14 point gap Pep Guardiola once had over us, as well as lifting both the FA Cup and the EFL League Cup and having tasted defeat in the final four years ago to Real Madrid out in Kyiv, most of the players will be more than motivated by wanting to join former Liverpool Academy graduate Steve McManaman in lifting the Champions League Trophy twice – memories he has recently reviewed in a recent series of interview with Betway.
There will no doubt be disappointment this week after rollercoaster that was last Sunday, but otherwise preparations for our trip to the Stade de France will have been good and fans will certainly have been boosted by the more recent news that Mohamed Salah has confirmed he will be with us for next season at least – although that delight will be somewhat tempered by the fact that the Egyptian international will still not be drawn on whether or not he will sign a new contract extension at Anfield.
“I don’t want to talk about that. I just want to see Hendo [Jordan Henderson] with the trophy. I don’t focus on the contract at the moment. I don’t want to be selfish. I am staying next season for sure.”
With his current contract expiring in the summer of 2023, time is still somewhat on our side here but unless a new deal does come to fruition in the next month or so, the media speculation and claims and supposition in the press across the length of the next campaign will become incredibly tedious, and very quickly at that. Having scored 156 goals in 253 games for us since his arrival from Italian side Roma back in 2017, the 29-year-old’s importance to Klopp does not need overstating, and fans will just hope that with Salah himself saying he wanted to stay and that he was not asking for ‘crazy stuff’ that a new deal can be quickly wrapped up so we can focus on improving further on the pitch without unnecessary distractions.
With the weekend soon to be with us, Salah added.
“I’m very motivated, motivated through the roof, after what happened last time [2018 final] and Sunday – everyone is motivated for this. We fight for this and everyone is excited.”
Given how hard we have seen the players work and battle away this season to keep the quadruple dream alive until basically the final minute of the season, there are no doubts at all that we will not be up for the fight on Saturday evening but ultimately it is football and anything can happen – what will be will be – we just have to hope we are the ones celebrating at the final whistle.