If revenge is a dish best served cold, Mo Salah has had plenty of time to get it chilled.
It’s four years since the fateful Champions League final in Kyiv when a mugging by Sergio Ramos and a meltdown by Loris Karius led to Real Madrid’s 3-1 win.
Liverpool met them in the quarter-final a year ago but, with no fans and Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips in central defence, it never felt like the right moment.
Real won by the same scoreline and this time it didn’t flatter them.
But in 2018, not even a wonder goal by Gareth Bale could disguise Liverpool’s sense of being robbed – Salah in particular.
They had been the better side until Ramos, the Real skipper, took out the Egyptian with an armlock – and turned the game.
Salah calls it “the worst moment of my career.”
Ramos also elbowed the Liverpool keeper in the jaw.
It still rankles as Salah showed when he tweeted: “We have a score to settle,” after Real booked their place in the final by beating Manchester City.
And even though Ramos is long gone, this week Salah confirmed: “I’m very motivated, motivated through the roof, after what happened last time and Sunday – everyone is motivated for this.”
Further calamities befell the Reds in Ukraine courtesy of Karius but he was subsequently found to be suffering a concussion.
Plenty of reasons, then, for the Reds to prefer the 13-time winners as final opponents to a team that keeps finding ways not to win it.
And for all Real’s uncanny survival instincts in this tournament, City would surely have been more formidable.
Pep Guardiola’s men outplayed Real in the semi-final – one of three successive rounds where the Spaniards came back from the dead.
Both Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Chelsea snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with Karim Benzema being the Real hero.
This is not a vintage Real side and even though they won La Liga with four matches to play, it was anything but a vintage La Liga.
When Zinedine Zidane walked out last summer and the Bernabeu was under renovation, it had all the makings of a rare fallow year.
They even struggled to find a manager.
Fourth-choice Carlo Ancelotti was described by one insider as “a patch to cover a hole.”
Nine months on he became the first to win the league title in five different countries.
And he did it with a side that, like the stadium, is being rebuilt.
A core of oldies – Benzema, Luka Modric and Tony Kroos (combined ages 100) – is augmented by a smattering of youth with Vinicius Junior and Eduardo Camavinga.
Nor have they filled the hole left by Ramos.
Meanwhile, Salah will be out to deliver a performance in Paris for a number of reasons.
Although he’s committed to staying at Liverpool for another year, he still hasn’t signed a contract.
And there is no bigger stage on which to demonstrate your worth than a Champions League final.
Whether he’s out to impress the Liverpool owners or those elsewhere, outside of Merseyside and the Arab world, he feels under appreciated.
He was voted Player of the Year in England by the football writers, but is often overlooked for the top awards.
With Real’s full-backs their weak link, he may sense his moment has come.
Meanwhile, Klopp says revenge is not something he believes in.
After acknowledging that 2018 was “harsh”, he said: “I understand what Mo said, he wants to put it right, I want to put it right, but in Germany we say you always meet twice in life.
“So behave better in the first moment because you will meet again.
“It’s all fine between us and Real Madrid. It is a football game on the highest level.”
Klopp admitted they’d arrived “on three wheels” for the 2018 final.
Not long afterwards Fabinho and then Alisson arrived to help the drive to the trophy the following year.
Since then, Thiago and Luis Diaz have joined.
It’s a different and deeper squad now, able to duke it out with anyone and fully exploit the five subs rule.
It should be a fascinating game with battles joined all over the park.
None will be watched more closely than that between Trent Alexander-Arnold and Vinicius, which was won decisively by the Brazilian last year.
Real are bound to try and exploit the Liverpudlian’s perceived weakness in defending but Klopp, who can be touchy on this subject, will be well aware.
More cover is the answer so as not to stifle the fullback’s creative talents.
The problem for Liverpool is that if Thiago doesn’t start, they’ll need Alexander-Arnold to be higher up the field to make the pin-point passes.
Jordan Henderson could drop back but he may be needed elsewhere if Fabinho isn’t fit.
So, the two men whose fitness is causing the most anxiety could be crucial to the outcome of this game.
At the time of writing, it was looking more hopeful – even for Thiago.
This will be Liverpool’s third Champions League final in five years – further substance to their claim to be “European royalty”.
And as equal third with Bayern Munich in European Cup/Champions League triumphs, no one can dispute their regal status.
Besides Real, only AC Milan (seven) are above them.
A win would complete a unique Treble and be a more just reward for one of the greatest seasons in their history.
They did complete a unique Treble in 2001 under Gerard Houllier that comprised the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup that came to be dubbed as “plastic” by Manchester United fans.
The two domestic cups they hold are the same but, having chased the Quad till the last kick, if they add Old Big Ears, it will be more platinum than plastic.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.