Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren believes 12-time winners and title holders Real Madrid should fear the Reds in the Champions League final later this month.
A 7-6 aggregate win over Roma set up a replay of the 1981 final in Paris, where Liverpool won the third of their five European Cups.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are the competition’s top scorers with 40 goals and Lovren thinks Real, who were pictured with t-shirts speculating about a potential 13th success after knocking out Bayern Munich, will be wary of their firepower.
“They are quite confident but we don’t care for that, we are focused on our job,” said the Croatia international.
“Why should we fear them? They should fear us.”
Team-mate Sadio Mane echoed those thoughts by stressing they are capable of taking on anyone and winning, as evidenced by their two victories over Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering Man City side in the quarter-final.
“We do have a lot of respect for Madrid, they are one of the best teams in the world, but we are Liverpool—we are strong, we can beat any team in the world,” he said.
“We believe that so we believe we can go there and beat them.
“We know we are going to go there to fight—for the fans, for the club. Fight without fear—and win the final.
“We have the players. We can score goals, we have shown that, and there is nothing to be afraid of for us.”
Lovren also paid tribute to the huge impact manager Jurgen Klopp has had since arriving at the club in October 2015.
The German led the club to two finals in his first season but lost both to take his personal tally of unsuccessful showpiece events to five.
“He changed many things in the club, not just the players but things around the club, people, he has changed the mentality, how we think,” added Lovren.
“Everything is more positive now. Even when we sometimes don’t play good he always finds something good and there is not negativity. He deserves this.
“It is not accidental that he already reached the final of the Champions League in 2013 with Borussia Dortmund.
“He has given the club pride back. Everyone feels that, everyone lives that. Everyone should be proud that we have a manager like him.”
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