Graeme Souness is a legend of Liverpool and of the European Cup. The Scotsman is an authority when it comes to the best club tournament in the world, which he raised as a net three times (1978, 1981 and 1984).
Retired since 1986 and without training since his last experience at Newcastle United (2006), Souness took advantage of his rostrum in the Daily Mail to analyze the final stretch of this Champions League. Although Real Madrid drew a draw against Manchester City at the Bernabéu, the Scotsman believes that the Skyblues will be European champions for the first time in their century-old history.
He bases his argument on how difficult it will be to stop Haaland and City in general for 180 minutes for Real Madrid and also, the favoritism with which City starts as finalists against Inter or Milan, whom he considers teams “ordinary”.
“It is always a difficult business to predict who is going to win, but if I say this I am not taking any chances. I’m sure this is the time when City will be crowned king of Europe. Partly because we can remove the Italian teams that played on Wednesday. I was impressed to see two such ordinary teams competing at such a late stage. When I played in Italy they were the best. Now, it saddened me to see what a stage is like for players who can no longer break it in the big leagues: Giroud, Mkhitaryan, Dzeko… Ibrahimovic, who is 41 years old. Italian football has financial problems, but the lack of quality surprises me. The first touch so poor. Players lose the ball easily under light pressure. The two teams from Milan would be in the middle of the table in the Premier. Only Lautaro is saved ”, he assures.
Souness sees, in part, Real Madrid capable of turning the contest around. “Real Madrid change their mentality to the one they live every week in Spain, where they have possession. They all did what they had to. They could go to the Etihad and win without having possession.”, wield. Of course, he also defends how difficult it is to contain Haaland and City for two games. “Madrid has great talents. Rudiger tried to intimidate Haaland at the Bernabéu. Take him to the physical and prevent him from scoring. But I’m not sure he can disable Haaland for 180 minutes. But if you have Haaland stopped, another problem will appear in Bernardo Silva or De Bruyne ”, he declared.
This coming Tuesday from 9:00 p.m., City will have to defend their fiefdom, where they have not yet lost all season, against Real Madrid to advance to the Champions League final. Vinicius and De Bruyne were the scorers in the 1-1 draw in the first leg that leaves everything even to the maximum.
He praises Rodrigo
Rodrigo Hernández is shining at City and Graeme Souness did not hesitate to praise the Mancunian club’s midfielder.“Rodri is becoming the best containment five in Europe. I like to see him score more goals. He is big, strong and rarely loses it. She has that smart pass. He can play long, he can play short and he senses danger before it happens. He always thinks of the worst case scenario. He can have the ball in compromised places and rarely loses it. His silky touch is unusual in such a big player.” wrote.