5 reasons Liverpool can win the Champions League
By Liam Bekker
4. The attacking trio of Mane, Firmino and Salah
There’s no stopping Liverpool’s attacking triumvirate of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah. The trio have combined to score 23 of Liverpool’s 33 Champions League goals this season with at least one of them scoring in eight of the club’s 10 matches so far.
Firmino and Salah are the joint-second-top goalscorers in the tournament with eight goals each, while Mane has chipped in with a further seven. Real Madrid’s Ronaldo might boast an incredible return of 15 strikes to his name but his contribution amounts to more than half of the reigning champions’ goals. He will undoubtedly be a hard man to stop but it is easier marking one goalscoring machine than three, and Liverpool have three.
Bayern, Madrid and Roma have all proven their quality to get this far in the competition but none possess a front line like Liverpool’s. If they attack, as the former pair naturally will, they leave themselves open to the devastating counter-attacks created by the pace of Salah and Mane. If they sit back and defend, as Roma likely will, they will be bombarded with wave after wave of attack until they submit. And they will submit. They all do. The only way to beat Liverpool is to outscore them, but then Loris Karius might have something to say about that.