Liverpool players and coaches celebrated a successful, trophy-laden season with an open top bus parade on Sunday (May 29).
The likes of Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk and Juergen Klopp were all in place to wave to hundreds of thousands of fans who lined the streets of the city.
Flares and fireworks added colour and noise to the event where the Liverpool side showed off the FA Cup and League Cup trophies they won this season.
Liverpool came very close to winning an unprecedented quadruple but fell at the final hurdle for both the Premier League and Champions League.
“Just unbelievable experience for everyone in the city to experience. The little kids, the older people, it was just amazing. Absolutely amazing. And even though we didn’t win who said we haven’t got the best fans in the world? Totally amazing experience. What a day we have had. Unbelievable. Making memories with your kids, that’s what it’s all about. Thank you.” LIVERPOOL FAN Said.
Liverpool celebrate with bus parade
Last week, Manchester City fought back to win 3-2 against Aston Villa and beat Liverpool to the English league title by one point on the last day of the season.
On Saturday, Real Madrid also clinched a 1-0 victory over the Reds in the Champions League final in Paris, with a Vinicius Jr goal being the difference.
Neither of those defeats could stop Liverpool celebrating a successful year with a bus parade, and their fans were adamant that there were more good times to come for their favourite team.
Real Madrid’s squad celebrated their 14th Champions League title through the evening on Sunday (May 29) making their way to different points of the city before arriving at the Bernabeu stadium for the day’s final party.
Stopping first at the Almudena Cathedral and then Madrid’s regional government headquarters and city hall, the team was then transferred to an open top bus where they made a grand entrance to the central Cibeles fountain where thousands of ecstatic supporters cheered the team.
In keeping with tradition, team captain Marcelo placed the club flag and scarf on the statue of goddess Cibeles as fans sang and cheered.
Real’s 14th Champions League title after beating Liverpool on Saturday 1-nil means the Spanish club has now won twice as many as the next most successful team, Milan.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp reacts after his side lose 1-0 to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.
Real Madrid secured a record-extending 14th European Cup when they beat Liverpool 1-0 in a Champions League final delayed for more than half an hour after police tried to stop people trying to force their way into the Stade de France on Saturday (May 28).
Vinicius Junior scored just before the hour with Real’s first attempt on goal and their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made several fine saves to deny Liverpool, who end the season with two domestic cups having also failed to win the Premier League.
In a battle of European heavyweights, Juergen Klopp’s side had more chances but lacked sharpness when it mattered as Carlo Ancelotti became the first coach to enjoy four European Cup triumphs having won the trophy with AC Milan and Real twice, leapfrogging Liverpool’s Bob Paisley and Real’s Zinedine Zidane.
It was LaLiga title holders Real’s fourth Champions League crown in seven years as they improved their impressive record in the competition with their eighth victory in as many finals.
The final was initially set to be played in St Petersburg but European soccer governing body UEFA relocated it to Paris after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a ‘special operation’.
The game started after a 35-minute delay following incidents outside the stadium when fans were tear-gassed by riot police as people without tickets tried to force their way in.
Klopp hails
Liverpool had won the previous European Cup final both teams had played in Paris, winning 1-0 at the Parc des Princes in 1981, which was Real’s last defeat in a final.
Liverpool were the slight favourites on Saturday but Real beat the Merseyside club for the second time in a row in the final after their 3-1 victory in 2018 in Kyiv.
Liverpool started the game by pushing high up the pitch, looking to quickly feed their full backs, and the pressure on the Real back line became immense.
Mo Salah was picked out by Trent Alexander-Arnold in the box but Courtois stretched to deny the Egyptian.
Sadio Mane came much closer when he ghosted past Eder Militao and Casemiro before his fierce attempt was tipped onto the post by the excellent Courtois in the 21st minute.
Liverpool, however, were not incisive enough in attack and Real’s only chance of the first half gave Liverpool a huge scare but Karim Benzema’s effort was ruled out after the Video Assistant Referee ruled that he was offside, being played in by Federico Valverde despite Fabinho’s deflection.
Liverpool were back at it early in the second half but Real soaked up the pressure until they struck in the 59th minute.
It started when Luka Modric turned smartly away from Andy Robertson to create space and ended with Valverde’s pinpoint driven pass across to the far post being turned in by Vinicius.
Courtois then dived to superbly tip Salah’s curled attempt away to keep Real ahead.
The Belgian keeper was impeccable again to deny Salah 10 minutes from time before his delighted team mates jumped into his arms to show their gratitude at the final whistle.
“It was, so after the game when I saw the stats, it was 50-50 possession.”JUERGEN KLOPP LIVERPOOL MANAGER Said.
“So, we had a lot more shots, a lot more shots on target, but the most decisive stat is absolutely on Madrid’s side. Just to make sure that nobody thinks I wouldn’t congratulate Real Madrid, I’d do that now,”
“but I congratulated everybody, president, involved outside personally. So, they scored a goal, we didn’t. That’s the easiest explanation in the world of football and (it’s) hard, harsh to get anyway, but we respect that of course. Yeah, when the goalkeeper is man of the match, then something is wrong, or going wrong for the other team, so we had I think three really big chances where (Thibaut) Courtois made incredible saves. I would have loved to have had a few more of this calibre (of chances).”
“I think Madrid had one shot on target, is that right? And that was a goal. But look” Klopp add.
“I understand 100 per cent and I respect it 100 per cent the reason for playing football and having these kinds of competitions is to win the game, and whatever you do, as long as it’s in the rules, it’s allowed and you can do it. So, it’s completely fine. We had to defend as well in moments really, and just that we blocked the shots or whatever.”
“We played a good game, but when you lose 1-0 you have to admit it was then not good enough. I told the boys in the dressing room after we had a bit of time obviously watching the celebrations of Real Madrid and these kinds of things, I told the boys that I’m, I feel the pride already. But I saw as well that I was the only one in the dressing room at that moment, so, the boys need a little bit longer for that, I understand that.”
“These boys played an outstanding season. The two competitions we couldn’t win, we didn’t win for the smallest possible margin. One point, 1-0. So, what does that say? Just that, on the day, or City from the season, they were one point better and tonight Madrid was one goal better. That says nothing about us. The difference between 2018 and now is that I see us coming again. In 2018 I wished it, but I couldn’t know, but these boys are really competitive. They are, have an incredible attitude, it’s a fantastic group and we will go again.”
“What is the key difference between winning and losing? That’s your question? I don’t understand it. They scored, we didn’t. Or what did you, what do you mean? Can you, sorry, can you explain it? Because I don’t understand it. What is the key difference between winning and losing?”
REPORTER: “Like, what did you feel was missing from today to really get the win?”
KLOPP: “That they scored, and we didn’t. That’s now easy to say. We could have played better football but Madrid could have played better football, but they didn’t and they won anyway.”
WHAT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES ON THE NIGHT WAS “Apart from the goal they didn’t have a shot on target. That’s a good sign for my team. We had nine shots on target. That’s really a good number, the problem is they scored with one shot, and we didn’t score with nine. That’s the difference between losing and winning.”
THE DELAY TO THE MATCH DUE TO POLICE CLASHES WITH FANS AND WHAT HE KNEW ABOUT IT “Not a lot and I couldn’t speak to my family yet, but I know the families had real struggles to get into the stadium. But the reasons, I don’t know yet. What I heard, that we will have further investigations to figure out what was going on there. I heard a few things that were not good, not nice. Obviously, it was pretty tricky out there, but I don’t know more about it.”
Carlo Ancelotti leads Real Madrid to a Champions League title “nobody thought they could win” with a 1-0 victory over Liverpool in the final.
Real Madrid secured a record-extending 14th European Cup when they beat Liverpool 1-0 in a Champions League final delayed for more than half an hour after police tried to stop people trying to force their way into the Stade de France on Saturday (May 28).
Following the match, Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said he and his side benefitted from the fact that no one thought they could win the Champions League as they marched into Paris and left with the hardware.
Vinicius Junior scored just before the hour with Real’s first attempt on goal and their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois made several fine saves to deny Liverpool, who end the season with two domestic cups having also failed to win the Premier League.
In a battle of European heavyweights, Juergen Klopp’s side had more chances but lacked sharpness when it mattered.
Ancelotti became the first coach to enjoy four European Cup triumphs having won the trophy with AC Milan and Real twice, leapfrogging Liverpool’s Bob Paisley and Real’s Zinedine Zidane.
22 goals and 20 assists for Vinicius this season.
“For different reasons, coming back to Madrid, as you say, was a huge success for me. It’s true that right now I’m not thinking of the titles I’ve won, what I’m thinking about is how happy I am that Real Madrid has been able to make the Real Madrid fans happy,” Ancelotti said following the match.
After being named man-of-the-match, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said he hopes he will finally get the respect he deserves saying he believes he should be ranked among the ten best goalkeepers in soccer.
It was LaLiga title holders Real’s fourth Champions League crown in seven years as they improved their impressive record in the competition with their eighth victory in as many finals.
Liverpool were looking for their seventh European Cup triumph but despite their best efforts they were left in awe of Courtois’s sublime performance.
Liverpool were denied a seventh European crown as Real Madrid became kings of the continent once again thanks to Vinicius Junior’s strike in a Champions League final marred by chaos outside the Stade de France.
Paris stepped in as host after UEFA stripped St Petersburg of the showpiece following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but it did not provide a fitting host as European royalty went toe-to-toe in the biggest club match of the season.
Kick-off had to be delayed by 36 minutes due to substantial security issues outside the Stade de France, where Liverpool would be edged out 1-0 in a tense, engaging final settled by Real star Vinicius Jr.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds were unable to find a response to the second-half strike as Carlo Ancelotti, managing a record fifth Champions League final just a year after leaving Everton, oversaw the Spanish giants’ 14th European Cup triumph.
It was a heartbreaking end to a memorable season for Liverpool, who won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup before being pipped to the Premier League title by a point and losing in the French capital.
Liverpool had settled quickest in Paris, where Thibaut Courtois denied Mohamed Salah – a man in search of revenge following his injury in the 2018 defeat to Real – before tipping a Sadio Mane strike onto the post.
Karim Benzema, this season’s Champions League top scorer, saw a goal ruled out for offside just before half-time and the LaLiga champions caught Liverpool napping in the 59th minute, landing a match-winning blow.
Vinicius Jr snuck behind Trent Alexander-Arnold to turn home Federico Valverde’s low cross and Courtois produced one of the best performances of his life to keep Liverpool at bay.
Salah led the charge for an equaliser that never arrived on a night that will be remembered by many for the farce outside the Stade de France, which led Liverpool to request a formal investigation midway through the final.
Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz beat their opponents to advance to the last 16 at the French Open, Alcaraz thus became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the event.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic both won their third-round matches at the French Open on Friday, while 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest player to reach the fourth round since 2006.
Despite dropped serve in the opening game against Dutch player Botic Van de Zandschulp, Nadal, who had just won his 300th Grand Slam match in the last round broke serve in the second game and dominated the first set 6-3.
The King of Clay faced little opposition in the second set, leading 5-0 before winning 6-2.
Nadal won the first four games of the third set, but Van de Zandschulp won the next three. The two then won a game respectively, with Nadal leading 5-4. In the tenth game, although the Dutchman saved a match point, Nadal, who was serving, scored two straight points to seal the victory.
In the next round, Nadal will face Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada, who is coached by Nadal’s uncle Toni Nadal.
“He (Toni Nadal) is a professional and he is with another player. I don’t know what’s going to happen if he’s going to stay in the box or not, but I don’t care. I have zero problems with that. So it’s not a story at all for me,” said Nadal.
Defending champion Djokovic quickly took control after 2-2 in the first set, beating Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. The Serbian is aiming to retain his title in Paris after he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to capture his second Roland Garros crown last year.
In the evening session, Spanish starlet Alcaraz defeated Sebastian Korda 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. Since Novak Djokovic in 2006, the 19-year-old player became the youngest player to reach the fourth round of the French Open.
“It’s amazing to play in such a great atmosphere. I think the people enjoyed the match and I’m glad to play in front of such a good crowd,” said Alcaraz.
“In the early matches, I’m trying to have fun out there. I love playing tennis and playing on these courts, so I’m enjoying every second,” he added.
In the second round of women’s doubles, Zhang Shuai and Caty McNally defeated Aldila Sutjiadi and Miyu Kato in two straight sets. China’s Han Xinyun and Zhu Lin won the first set 6-0 over Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko but were eliminated after losing the next two sets.
Juergen Klopp and Carlo Anceotti’s players are put through their paces ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Liverpool and Real Madrid trained at the Stade de France on Friday (May 27) as both sides made the final preparations before the Champions League final.
Liverpool are unbeaten since March, have lost only three games all season and have already lifted two domestic cups but they will be under pressure on Saturday (May 28) to avoid ending the campaign as nearly men.
Having spent the latter part of the season being touted for a unique quadruple, they face the prospect of potential double disappointment after missing out on the Premier League title to Manchester City by a solitary point on the last day.
For Real the situation could not be more different. They began the season with low expectations but ended up romping to the LaLiga title and became the comeback kings of Europe after heroic and improbable fightbacks en route to the final.
So while bookies’ favourites Liverpool have lost fewer games in all competitions this term than Madrid have in the Champions League alone, the pressure appears to be more on the Reds to lift the trophy at the Stade de France.
Real are enjoying a dream season that started with almost no expectations and could end up with a LaLiga-Champions League double thanks mainly to an amazing season from Karim Benzema.
Karin Benzema scored 15 goals in 11 Champions League games
His 15 goals in 11 Champions League games, 10 in the knockout stage, have put Real on the verge of winning Europe’s elite club title for the fifth time in nine years and the France striker as favourite to claim the Ballon D’Or after scoring 44 goals, with 15 assists, in 45 games in all competitions.
It has been a stellar season that took some time to arrive for the 34-year-old Frenchman, who has cemented a place as the undisputed leader and most influential player in a team that needed a talisman after losing Cristiano Ronaldo four years ago.
He has only netted once in his four Champions League finals but that was against Liverpool in 2018 when he opened the scoring in a 3-1 win thanks to a horrendous error by Loris Karius on a nightmare night for the German goalkeeper.
Memories of that match will provide an extra dose of confidence for Benzema and his team mates on the back of Real’s hugely impressive run of comebacks in this season’s competition that have built a feeling of invincibility for Los Blancos.
They came from behind in all their knockout stage clashes against Paris St Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City to win with last-minute goals that turned the Bernabeu into a place where fans and players started believing miracles come true.
Real won a record-extending 35th LaLiga title with a month of the season left and are in their 17th European Cup final – an accomplishment that allowed Ancelotti to give his players some rest as they go into the final with no major injury concerns.
They face a Liverpool side that came up just short in their race with Manchester City for the Premier League title, ending their dream of an unprecedented quadruple after they lifted the FA Cup and League Cup with shootout wins over Chelsea.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Thiago have suffered with injuries over the last few weeks and there are questions over how fit they will be for the big game.
Salah has said he will be seeking revenge for the “worst moment of his career” when he came off injured early in the 2018 final defeat by Real – words that were noted by Real’s players and have given them added motivation to lift the trophy.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti says his side need to channel what they’ve shown throughout the season to overcome Liverpool in the Champions League final.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti hopes his team can be at their peak to give them a chance of winning Saturday’s (May 28) Champions League final against Liverpool at the Stade de France but is pragmatic enough to know that may still not be good enough.
Liverpool are unbeaten since March, have lost just three games this season and have already claimed two domestic cups, although they just missed out on the Premier League title, while Real romped to the LaLiga crown with a month to spare.
“I think we have to plan a game where we can show our qualities. So, what we’ve been able to show throughout the season, we have to show that tomorrow too,” Ancelotti told a news conference on Friday (May 27).
“The team who manages to fit the game to their strengths will win the match,” he added.
Saturday’s game gives Liverpool a chance to avenge their defeat by Real in the 2018 final and Ancelotti does not think Real will have a fitness advantage despite having time to rest key players after wrapping up the LaLiga title early.
He recalled that his 2014 Real team arrived at the final with several injured players and still managed to beat local rivals Atletico Madrid.
“I think Liverpool are going to bring an intense game, which is what their qualities are. They are an intense team with a lot of individual qualities, with a lot of verticality (quick transitions). This is what they will try to bring,” said Ancelotti.
Tickets to watch the Thailand national football team take on Turkmenistan in tonight’s warm-up for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers were sold out within 20 minutes today.
Football fans formed long queues at Sri Nakhon Lamduan Stadium but the initial allocation of tickets for tonight’s match was sold by midday.
There were still 2,000 reserved tickets available as of press time, with eager fans standing in long lines hoping to get a seat for the match.
Many others were left disappointed that they did not get a ticket and asked the organiser to open an additional stand inside the stadium to accommodate more fans.
The friendly kicks off at 5.30pm and will be broadcast live on Thairath TV and AIS Play, which is available below on the Nation Thailand website.
Thai snooker legend James Wattana was selected by the Sport Development Fund Foundation as its first brand ambassador after he won his first Southeast Asian Games gold medal last Sunday in Vietnam.
Foundation vice president Weerachet Khan-Ngern and foundation executives on Friday welcomed Watttana, along with Somphol Saetang who claimed a bronze medal in carom billiards, and team manager Chaiyaphong Kawornsurom as the snooker-billiards team returned to Thailand from the 31st SEA Games in Vietnam that concluded on Monday.
Wattana, the former world No. 3, presented a commemorative photo of him winning the SEA Games medal to the foundation and said that he was happy to serve as the first brand ambassador of the fund that aims to promote sports and athletes in Thailand.
Weerachet said the 52-year-old Wattana was selected as brand ambassador not just because he had won a gold medal, but because of his dedication to the sport for more than 30 years that has made Thailand well-known in the global snooker circles.
“Wattana has inspired many new generation players to turn professional and compete at the international level,” he said.
“He has also participated in a volunteer group that provide aid to orphan children and underprivileged people in his free time.”
Weerachet added that the foundation will use the same standards that make Wattana a suitable candidate for the fund’s brand ambassador to select future brand ambassadors, which are athletes who have demonstrated outstanding performance, shown dedication to the sport and society, and brought fame and recognition to the country.
Liverpool celebrate with bus parade
22 goals and 20 assists for Vinicius this season.
Karin Benzema scored 15 goals in 11 Champions League games
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