Strengthening Liverpool’s position, rather than ‘revenge’, is Andy Robertson’s priority when the Reds face Real Madrid tomorrow.
At the halfway point of the Champions League’s league phase, Arne Slot’s men sit at the top of the standings with a 100 per cent record.
On matchday five at Anfield, they will seek to bolster that status versus the team they were beaten against in the tournament’s finals of both 2018 and 2022.The current holders, Real also ended Liverpool’s campaigns in the Champions League during the knockout phases of 2020-21 and 2022-23.
But Robertson considers there to be a clean slate ahead of their latest showdown, with focus solely on maintaining the Reds’ hugely positive season so far.
“I don’t really look into owing people one or revenge or anything like that,” the left-back told the media during today’s pre-match press conference.
“Both games [in the final] were different. I think 2018 was so important for our journey. Nobody really expected us to be in the Champions League final that year, and it gave us the belief that we could compete in the tournament again and go on and then win it the next year, which was so important.“I think 2022 obviously hurt a lot more at the time; I thought we played well in the game, I thought we dominated the game. Their goalkeeper was Man of the Match, which probably tells you a lot. But they do what they do, there’s a reason why they’ve won the competition the most out of any team.
“But I think the squad is too new, I think their squad is too new, and we’re just looking at tomorrow to try to strengthen our position at the top of that table, because we know how important finishing in the top eight can be in terms of seeding for the last 16 and not having a play-off.“That’s all we’re focused on.”
Read on for a summary of the rest of Robertson’s briefing with the media at Anfield…On what he sees in this Liverpool squad that makes him confident success could be achieved…
I think what we’ve shown is that we can win football matches so far in this season, but there’s also a long way to go. There’s a few of us who have got the experience of winning both [the Premier League and Champions League]; you need a consistency, you need a bit of luck along the way as well in terms of injuries and form and things like that. But so far we’ve had that, we’ve had good performances and maybe when we’ve not been at our best we’ve still found a way to win, which is good. But we’re only 12 games into the Premier League, four games into the Champions League and I still think there’s a lot of football to be played and there’ll be a lot of twists and turns. But when you’re in a good moment you have to try to keep going and try to build that momentum. I think that’s what we’ve been quite good at so far, and we have to try to continue that because we know we’ve got big games coming up and if we can get results in them, our position can strengthen.
On what he sees in this Liverpool squad that makes him confident success could be achieved…
I think what we’ve shown is that we can win football matches so far in this season, but there’s also a long way to go. There’s a few of us who have got the experience of winning both [the Premier League and Champions League]; you need a consistency, you need a bit of luck along the way as well in terms of injuries and form and things like that. But so far we’ve had that, we’ve had good performances and maybe when we’ve not been at our best we’ve still found a way to win, which is good. But we’re only 12 games into the Premier League, four games into the Champions League and I still think there’s a lot of football to be played and there’ll be a lot of twists and turns. But when you’re in a good moment you have to try to keep going and try to build that momentum. I think that’s what we’ve been quite good at so far, and we have to try to continue that because we know we’ve got big games coming up and if we can get results in them, our position can strengthen.
On whether a win on Wednesday would be an ‘important stepping stone’ for this team’s development…
Yeah, of course. Obviously since I’ve been here we’ve played Real Madrid five or six times and obviously we’ve not been on the winning side yet. But there’s only a few of us that have probably been involved in that; it’s quite a different squad, a new squad that a lot of players probably haven’t faced Real Madrid with Liverpool yet, and also the same for them – they’re a new squad and new faces. When it comes to these big games and you play against the best players and the best teams then of course you want to be one, involved in the game and two, you want to get the result.
It’ll probably be the most-watched game this week, and that’s what big players want to be a part of. And I think if we can get the win it just puts us in an even better position within the Champions League. But also, you’re beating one of your competitors, which is always nice. We’re excited by that prospect. But we also know how good Real Madrid can be and we know that they’ll come here full of belief and full of confidence that they can get the result. Hopefully come tomorrow night we’re the happier ones.
On his leadership in the squad and if its importance is increasing…
There’s only a few of us that have probably experienced success as in the two big trophies. And we all have to dip into that and we have to help the new players and younger players, because it can be quite easy to get carried away and looking too far ahead. But I think we’ve got enough within the changing room that won’t allow that to happen. That’s where we rely on probably me, Virgil [van Dijk], Mo [Salah], Trent [Alexander-Arnold], Ali [Alisson Becker] Joe Gomez, people like that, that have been there and done it, that can just put a calm on everything and focus on the next game, because that’s the most important. We’re fully focused on tomorrow night and then come 11pm tomorrow night we’ll fully focus on Man City, and then whatever happens there we’ll fully focus on Newcastle. That’s just the way we work and we’ve always worked. I think that’s what will work best for our changing room, and obviously we are key to that.
