Jamie Carragher was ‘convinced’ one player would start the CL final, but now he’s not so sure

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Speaking on the Blood Red Podcast, Jamie Carragher has been discussing Liverpool’s Champions League final line-up and Ibrahima Konate.

The Frenchman has been one of the first names on the teamsheet for Liverpool throughout this Champions League campaign, and it was somewhat expected that he would be starting against Real Madrid in Paris.

However, over the weekend Konate had one of his worst games in a Liverpool shirt.

The Frenchman made a serious error against Wolves that led to the Reds going 1-0 down, and Carragher believes his showing on Sunday may have planted a seed of doubt in Jurgen Klopp’s mind about starting him this weekend.

What’s been said?

Carragher spoke about Konate.

“I thought Konate was going to play, but I though this morning if that could have put some doubt in Klopp’s mind. I felt Konate would play because of his extra pace to help Trent on that side with Vinicius,” Carragher said.

“But Joel Matip doesn’t make mistakes really, you also have to take into account Konate playing on that left side, it’s never as comfortable as easy. I think that has made it a 50/50 decision now. I was convinced that Konate would play, now I’m not so sure.

“I think he might look at his record and see that he’s never lost whenever he’s played, and he made a mistake in the last game, but that pace, physicality and set-pieces. Imagine him and van Dijk going up for set-pieces everytime?

“I think it’s a 50/50 one, but I think he may just plump for Matip in the end just because he’s a steady and calm influence.”

Risk

Is Konate good enough to start a Champions League final? Of course he is, but that isn’t to say that starting him wouldn’t be a risk.

As we saw at the weekend, the Frenchman is capable of making errors, and in a game of this magnitude, you can’t afford a single slip.

As Carragher says, Joel Matip is more trustworthy. He’s been there and done it in a Champions League final, and he, quite simply, doesn’t make mistakes.

Konate could bring an extra element to this Liverpool backline with his pace and aerial ability, but in a game like this, you can’t take risks.

It wouldn’t surprise us one bit if Matip started instead of Konate against Real Madrid.