Paul Merson has predicted Liverpool v Real Madrid in tonight’s Champions League final.
Paris plays host as the Reds look to finish their season with a stunning treble, having already won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup during a sensational 2021-22 campaign.
Jurgen Klopp’s outfit might be narrow favourites to win what would be a seventh Champions League title for Liverpool – and second since the German took charge back in 2015.
The Premier League outfit have a number of injury concerns involving Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho but Merson, speaking to Sportskeeda, believes that if Klopp has a clean bill of health available to him then the English giants will win 2-1.
He said: “Predicting a game like this is incredibly hard, but I’m going for a 2-1 Liverpool win. They’ve had a tough few weeks, but if all their players are fully fit, I think they have what it takes to get the job done.
“Klopp and co missed out on the Premier League title by a point, but it’ll be an unbelievable feat if they finish the season with the Carabao Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.”
Fortunately for Liverpool, it does look like Thiago and Fabinho will be fit, based on a development from The Independent on Friday afternoon.
Merson is one of the most respected pundits working in English football and fans of the Merseysiders should be excited by his prediction, particularly because he got last year’s prediction for the Champions League final pretty spot on.
The former Arsenal man told Sky Sports a year ago: “We all take for granted that Man City will go out and just play their game, but it is different when you get to finals. It’s completely and utterly different. It is all about how you cope with it and how you are going to be on the day.
“For me, it’s going to be a very interesting game. It’s a very interesting final, which both teams can win, and you have to say Chelsea can win it because of their wins over City this season.”
Merson certainly said ‘Chelsea can win it’ and they did, beating Pep Guardiola’s side 1-0 to win the Champions League for a second time.
Liverpool fans will be hoping the Sky pundit is right tonight, too – and he might be.
Back in February, Merson predicted that the Carabao Cup final would go to penalties which, again, it did.
Klopp’s side beat Chelsea on that occasion, completing part one of their would-be treble, and tonight they could finish the mission.
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