As we are slowly drawing close to the Champions League final, the clear favorites are coming on top. Most people had Manchester City, PSG, and Bayern Munich as favorites before the competition began. Of course, one of these teams is now out, as PSG squandered a 2-0 effective lead to lose to Real Madrid in the Round of 16. However, apart from Real Madrid, who is also being considered a new favorite, Mohamed Salah and Liverpool have joined the conversation.
Liverpool was considered a dark horse entering the Champions League campaign, but it is difficult to ignore them as one of the top teams in the competition. Here are three reasons Liverpool will lift the Champions League title.
Liverpool as Champions League title winners
Best front three in football
As of right now, the trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Diogo Jota scored 59 goals in all competitions. Of course, the main part of that is Salah's 28, but they have all been playing on a great level since the season began. They score in all manner of ways, and it is mesmerizing to see them dissect absolutely every defense that is put in front of them.
Salah is the main guy, obviously, and his ability to break down even the lowest of blocks, while also pairing up with Jota in the middle for some link-up play, is absolutely sensational. The competition for the best attack in the world is fierce, but no one can be considered close to the production of the Liverpool trifecta.
The Bayern Munich front three of Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry, and Leroy Sane have more goals, that part is true, but 43 of those came from Lewandowski. With Virgil Van Dijk in the middle, even if they are matched up with the Bavarians, Liverpool has hope. Real Madrid is heavily reliant on the brilliance of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr., but they virtually do not have any other threats, apart from a Marco Asensio long-range strike. Manchester City has some good attackers, but it is really their midfield that is great.
Probably the only front three that could have challenged the Liverpool one, at least on paper, was PSG's, but it is clear that they were not on the level that was expected. Thus, Liverpool has a chance to score goals in absolutely every possible matchup in the Champions League.
Stable defense
Last season, Liverpool fell at the second hurdle, losing against Real Madrid 3-1 in two games. However, what some might forget is that the backline of Liverpool was ravaged by injuries. For instance, in the first game in Madrid, the Liverpool duo in the back was Nathaniel Phillips and Ozan Kabak.
Now, both of them are solid players, but neither is on the level of Van Dijk, and on the level of Joel Matip. Now, that both Van Dijk and Matip are fully available, Liverpool has one of the best defenses, on paper, in the world. In total, they conceded 20 goals in the Premier League this season and seven in the Champions League. They are the third-best defense in EPL and fourth-best in the Champions League.
What is even better than that is that their defense consists of Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, both fullbacks who look to push up the field. Additionally, Alexander-Arnold is a fullback who is considered fairly poor defensively and is mostly played due to his attacking prowess. Yet, even with those two players who play high up the pitch and with TAA who does not defend a ton in general, Liverpool's defensive numbers are elite.
Of course, a part of that comes from the fact they are an attacking team that controls a ton of the ball, but common reason would suggest they also concede a ton of goals from counter-attacks. Still, they are one of the best defending teams in the Champions League, which gives them hope they can lift the trophy in May.
Form
Coming into this critical part of the season in both the EPL and the Champions League, Liverpool has been on fire. Since the date of their first defeat this season, which happened away to West Ham in the Premier League in November of last year, they have had 23 wins, five draws, and only two defeats, across all competitions. One loss came at home versus Inter Milan, but Liverpool had a stable 2-0 lead coming into that game, so losing by 1-0 did not impact them as much. Looking at the situation more recently, in 2022, Liverpool has that one defeat versus Inter, one draw against Chelsea, and a ton of wins, including eight in a row in the EPL.
Now, it did come mostly from lesser opposition, having played only two top-half EPL opponents since the calendar turned to 2022, but that is really not relevant to the form and the momentum they have. Liverpool is the only team left in the competition that did not have any major defeats, or slipups, whether in the Champions League or in the national championships of respective clubs that are their competition.
Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Real Madrid also have good form, of course, but it is not on the level of Liverpool. All of these reasons plus many more can give the Liverpool fans a ton of hope their team will be playing in Paris on May 28 and winning the entire Champions League.
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