74 Thursday May 26 2022 | the times
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whether there had been progress on his
contract talks, insisting that his focus
was on helping the club to lift the
Champions League for the seventh
time and for the second time in four
seasons after the 2019 triumph over
Tottenham Hotspur.
“In my mind, I don’t focus on the
contract at the moment,” Salah said. “I
don’t want to be selfish. I said that two
months ago. It is about the team now. It
is a really important week for us.
“I want to win the Champions
League again. I want to see Hendo
[Jordan Henderson] with the trophy in
his hands and, hopefully, give it to me
after. I don’t want to talk about the
contract because we have a long time. I
am staying next season. That is clear.”
Mané will reveal plans only after final
That news will disappoint some
clubs, with Real’s failure to sign Kylian
Mbappé from Paris Saint-Germain
prompting suggestions that the presi-
dent Florentino Pérez would consider
trying to lure Salah to the Bernabeu.
The Egyptian had previously stated
that he wants to remain at Liverpool,
whom he joined from Roma in 2017, but
long-running discussions have failed to
broker an accord between the player
and the club.
Liverpool have also been planning to
speak to Mané, who has attracted
interest from Bayern Munich. “Whe-
ther I stay or not, I will say after the
Champions League,” the 30-year-old
Senegal striker said.
The Liverpool manager Jürgen
Klopp is hopeful that Thiago Alcântara
will be able to face Real, with his fellowmidfielder Fabinho having declared
himself fit yesterday.
Thiago was absent from an open
session yesterday morning to do
individual work with the physio Lee
Nobes in the gymnasium at the club’s
AXA training ground. The Spaniard
suffered an achilles injury in Sunday’s
Premier League win over Wolver-
hampton Wanderers and walked off the
pitch moments before half-time.
A scan revealed the issue was not
serious and Klopp delivered a positive
update. “We hope he can fit,” he said.
“The news is surprisingly good. After
the game he was not positive but then
we got news and it was not bad.”
Fabinho, who has missed the past
three matches with a hamstring injury,
took part in training yesterday and said
he was ready to face Real.continued from back
Salah had to come off in the first half of the 2018 final after this Ramos challenge
Salah vows Real revenge for
Bitter memory of his injury during Liverpool’s Champions League
final defeat in 2018 is motivating the Egyptian, Paul Joyce writes
The last time Liverpool played Real
Madrid in Paris an unlikely hero
stepped up in Alan Kennedy, who
charged forward from left back and
scored the only goal.
Memories of that European Cup final
in 1981 were outlined to Mohamed
Salah yesterday, culminating in a
question about who might emerge as a
surprise match-winner in Saturday’s
meeting in the French capital 41 years
later.
“Hopefully me,” said Salah in
response, casting aside the possibility of
any shock element. The Egyptian
striker is clearly in no mood for
romance. Not when it is revenge that he
truly wants.
It was a two-word answer that
revealed plenty about his state of mind,
underlining his insatiable appetite to be
the one who shines on the biggest stage.
Salah’s desire to have the chance to
punish Real is borne out of Liverpool’s
last meeting in a Champions League
final with the Spanish side in 2018.
Back then, he fell foul of Sergio
Ramos in the first half. The Real
defender’s challenge left Salah with a
shoulder injury and he was inconsol-
able as he trudged off the pitch.
Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat would be digested
by their talisman while he was in a Kyiv
hospital.
“I remember when I went out after 30
minutes or something it was the worst
moment of my career,” Salah said. “I
was really, really down after that.
“I had had a good season, but playing
in the Champions League final and
coming off after 30 minutes was the
worst thing that could happen to any
player. After the game I knew the result
because I was in the hospital. I was like,
‘We cannot lose the game in that way.’
“I never had that feeling before in
football, especially because it was the
first Champions League final for most
of us.
“We were very, very disappointed but
after that summer we came back and
talked to each other. Hendo [Jordan
Henderson] and Milly [James Milner]
talked in the dressing room if I remem-
ber right and said, ‘We go again — for
everything.’
“We managed to win it the year after
[against Tottenham Hotspur in
Madrid] so that was a kind of
revenge in a way. We man-
aged it in the best way
possible.”
Salah has done little to
hide his desire to redress
events in the Olimpiys-
kiy Stadium in Ukraine
four years ago.
On the night that
Liverpool beat Villarreal
to seal their passage into
Saturday’s final, the 29-year-
old had stated his preference to
meet Carlo Ancelotti’s Real side rather
than Manchester City, who were play-
ing in the other semi-final the following
evening.
When Real progressed, he publicly
vowed to settle a score and the senti-
ment behind those comments, Hender-
son suggested, had surprised the
Liverpool dressing room.
It is a feeling that has only been
strengthened by the failure of the quad-
ruple bid with Liverpool having beenpipped by a point to the Premier League
title by Manchester City.
“I am very motivated,” Salah said.
“After what happened with Madrid last
time and also after what happened on
Sunday. Everyone is motivated to win
the Champions League.
“This is an unbelievable trophy for us
and every season we have fought for it
since I have been here.”
Salah has scored a remarkable 34
times in 58 Champions League appear-
ances for Liverpool and has scored 31
goals this season, 23 in the Premier
League to share the Golden Boot with
Son Heung-min, of Spurs. Only once, in
his first season at Anfield, has he
scored more in a single cam-
paign — 44 goals in 2017-18.
Yet he goes into the
final having scored only
four goals in his past 19
matches for Jürgen
Klopp’s side, a period
which coincided with
Egypt’s failure to reach
the World Cup finals.
Egypt lost on penalties to
Senegal in a qualifying match
in March — just as they had in the
Africa Cup of Nations final in February
— with Salah missing his spot kick as
the home fans sought to distract him by
shining lasers in his face.
He dealt with those bitter disappoint-
ments in the only way he knows.
“I was really disappointed after what
happened with the national team,” he
said. “Then I just came back to England,
I think the day after it I was training. I
didn’t want to think about it and just
wanted to play in the Watford game.
“At that time I thought, ‘There are
three or four other trophies you can
win. Just go for them.’
“And I gave it my best. Until Sunday,
we were close to winning three, we were
unlucky. City are a good team who did
great against Aston Villa.
“In my mind I am just realistic and
trying to think positive all the time.
After Egypt, I thought, ‘We have the
Carabao Cup, the FA Cup, Champions
League, Premier League.’
“There is nothing else you can do, so
you try and do your best for the team. I
think as a team we are doing good. I am
having a good season, a very good one,
actually. I just try to help the team win
games. That is the most important
thing for me.”
And while that is true, Salah hopes he
is the one who reduces Real to tears on
this occasion.Electrodes help Klopp’s
men to get ‘in the zone’
L
iverpool are working with the
German neuroscience company
that has improved their
performance at set pieces and aided
their penalty shoot-out successes this
season by teaching them how to “get
in the zone” before the Champions
League final.
Neuro11, which first worked with
the squad in pre-season, is spending
two days at the club’s AXA training
facility in the countdown to the
match against Real Madrid at the
Stade de France on Saturday to
refresh the methods that have beencentral to Liverpool’s
success this campaign.
The company, founded by Dr
Niklas Häusler and Patrick
Häntschke, a former academy player
at the German side Energie Cottbus
is aiming to give fresh stimulus “to
accuracy training” by enhancing the
groundwork Liverpool have already
been working on.
Headsets with electrodes are
attached to the players, which allows
neuro11 to ascertain whether a player
is “in the zone” or not and also how
intensely.
Being “in the zone” effectively
means that a player is running onPaul JoyceHow it works
Players wear headsets
with electrodes
attached which
measure the live
activity of the brain.This allows neuro11 to
ascertain whether the
players are “in the
zone” at set pieces
— in other words,running on automatic
rather than having to
think about what they
are trying to do at each
set-piece situation.2
Days until the
Champions League final
Saturday, 8pm
TV: BT Sport 1
Radio: talkSPORTSport Champions League final
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