Liverpool will play against Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Paris and Mohamed Salah’s motivation could be dangerous.

Mohamed Salah has revenge on his mind against Real Madrid for the Champions League final in Paris

Salah wants revenge

Even though Sergio Ramos has since moved on, Salah has not in the sense that he is still a Liverpool player and also clearly still thinks about that game from four years ago.

Salah’s reaction to Real Madrid qualifying for the final went “I’m so excited, I said before the game that I wanted to play Madrid in the final. We lost in the (2018) final, it was a sad day for all of us and I think it is revenge time.”

That quote suggests that despite winning the Champions League a year later and even scoring in the final against Tottenham, Salah never quite got over 2018.

The history of revenge in UCL finals

Salah’s Liverpool would not be the first to seek revenge in a Champions League final after having previously lost to the same team a few years prior but it has not particularly ended well for those teams either.

The most recent of those examples is Atletico Madrid who sought to beat Real Madrid in the 2016 final and avenge the defeat which they had suffered two years prior but only ended up losing again, this time in an even more agonising fashion… via penalty shootouts.

Focus on the game instead

While it is good that Salah draws inspiration from the first loss to Real Madrid, his drive for vengeance could cost Liverpool as established earlier.