Road to Kiev: How Liverpool and Real Madrid reached the UCL Final

The Serie A side had reached this stage thanks to their incredible comeback victory over Barcelona. But once again it was Liverpool’s performance in the first-leg that wrapped up the tie. A first-half brace from Salah set the Reds on their way to a 5-2 victory ahead of the second-leg at the Stadio Olimpico.

Klopp’s charges lost 4-2 in the Italian capital but never looked in any real danger of exiting the competition, eventually winning through 7-6 on aggregate.

Real Madrid’s route to Kiev

UCL Proper this season: P12, W8, D2, L2, GF30, GA15.

Real Madrid had little trouble traversing Group H – save matches against Tottenham Hotspur. Los Blancos were held 1-1 by the North Londoners at the Santiago Bernabeu before suffering a humbling 3-1 defeat at Wembley in the return fixture.

Four wins from four against Borussia Dortmund and APOEL ensured them of second spot in the group, with Cristiano Ronaldo bagging nine goals in Real’s six games.

That set up a colossal last-16 tie with Paris Saint-Germain, where Zinedine Zidane’s men showed their class and experience to climb through 5-2 on aggregate. Ronaldo scored three times across the tie to keep up his incredible record in front of goal during this year’s tournament.

Their quarter-final match-up with Juventus proved far more taxing. Ronaldo’s incredible bicycle-kick sent them on their way to a seemingly unassailable 3-0 first-leg success in Italy.

But a tremendous fightback from the Old Lady in Spain left Real on their knees. Only a controversial 90^th minute penalty guaranteed their spot in the semi-finals after Juve had pulled the tie back to 3-3 on aggregate.

Their semi-final clash with Bayern Munich proved just as tight, although lacking in genuine quality. Goals from Marcelo and Marco Asensio gave the Galacticos a 2-1 first-leg advantage. A 2-2 draw at the Bernabeu, courtesy of a brace from Karim Benzema, sent Zidane’s men through to a third consecutive Champions League Final.

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