Liverpool! Real Madrid! Champions League Final Open Thread

Yes yes yes. The European club championship starts at 1:30 Central. The winner of this yooge deal tournament gets a proportionally extravagant trinquet, which the Spanish call La Orejona (the big-eared one):

The Brits call it the Big Cup, and I imagine toffs creaming all over themselves for the generic understatement.

OF COURSE it’s a big deal. Europe hosts the richest leagues that can afford to poach / sign the best talent available anywhere. Plus, Liverpool and [grabs crotch] Real Madriz have been among the top handful of clubs in the world.

Real Madrid is aiming for a Champions 3-peat, which has never happened. Their fans, who are mostly of the douche persuasion, will become insufferable. That’s their natural state anyway, so they could stand to be taken down a peg. If not, at least they’ll drown a bit the Jordan vs. Lebron irritants.

The fucking Red Sox own Liverpool and their fans include shitheads who do this:

via thesun.co.uk

Maybe I’m talking out of place, but I think hooliganism MIGHT be a bad look for LIV fans. Especially when the Heysel disaster happened to occur in a European Cup final—you now, like the game that’s on today. Throwing crap at buses is provincial league crap, but’s it’s great to see how little some Reds fans are.

For the 87^th season in a row, Real Madrid is crazy STCKT. Truth is, when they’re on, they’re an amazing watch. Keylor Navas, the Costa Rica captain, is among the top goalkeepers in the world. Their defenders are physical (Marcelo) and total assholes (Sergio fucking Ramos); Toni Kroos connects each one of the 80-100 passes he makes in a game; Luka Modric is brilliant and will lead a sneaky-stacked Croatia; and then ahead there’s Ronaldo, with a Benzema or Bale too. Real reached the final through the toughest possible road, having to play twice:

Borussia Dortmund (4^th in Germany)

Tottenham Hotspur (3^rd in the EPL)

PSG (French Champion)

Juventus (Italian Champion)

Bayern Munich (German champion)

Real lost only twice, 3-1 each to Tottenham and Juventus. Goddamn it; it’s hard to see them lose.

Liverpool did not have it anywhere as tough, but they won convincingly:

via socerstats.com

Thus far they have scored 46 goals, most in the history of the competition. They made it through the Coutinho transfer and injuries to key players, like Emre Can, because of Salah, Mané, and Firmino. These three have manufactured goals quickly, often with Firmino stealing a ball in midfield and passing a dart to Salah or Mané. Those three might be the finest front line in the game right now.

via @ESPNFC

But Real Madrid ain’t Porto—but Madriz ain’t Man City either, which LIV blasted 5-1 in aggregate. [Sigh] I’ve thought this through: I wouldn’t mind AT ALL Reds fans throwing crap at the Real bus in Kiev.

Predicción: Liverpool 2 – 1 Real Madrid, five yellow cards, one red card. There will be chippiness. God I hope there’s blood.

King Hippo: The back of the Lesser action will be safely skipped by me, what with #BFIB dirting off at 4-ish. Let us hope being on the Cards’ dugout side today is better luck, eh?