Real Madrid vs Liverpool - LIVE: Champions League final reaction and Mohamed Salah injury latest
Follow latest reaction from Liverpool 1-3 Real Madrid in Kiev after Salah was forced off with a shoulder injury in the first half
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Your support makes all the difference.Real Madrid have beaten Liverpool FC to claim the Champions League title and lift the European Cup for a third year in a row.
Madrid's victory makes it a record 13 overall and denies Liverpool a sixth crown in their first final since 2007 after last winning it in the memorable 2005 final.
Cristiano Ronaldo was fit and firing but his battle with Mohamed Salah was cut short after the Egyptian was forced off with a shoulder injury in the first half.
Here's how it all played out in Kiev:
What time is it?
The game will kick off in Kiev at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium at 7.45pm BST on Saturday 26 May.
Where can I watch it?
The final will be shown live on BT Sport 2 from 7pm BST and also available to watch for free on YouTube. Alternatively, you can follow The Independent’s live coverage above.
Fans have flocked to the centre of Kiev after many experienced travel problems.
Flight cancellations meant more than 1,000 Liverpool supporters could not leave the UK, while soaring accommodation prices persuaded roughly the same number of Madrid fans to have their ticket money refunded rather than travel to Ukraine.
Uefa have said refunded tickets will be made available to locals but there is likely to be the unusual sight of empty seats at a Champions League final.
Those fans who have made it are largely positive about Kiev and are soaking up a festival atmosphere in the city.
Michael Owen believes Mohamed Salah is at Liverpool “for the long-term” and would have the Egyptian in his side over Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who awaits Salah and his team-mates in the Champions League final.
A veteran of both Liverpool and Madrid, Owen will watch this year’s end-of-season showpiece in Kiev as part of BT Sport’s coverage and will keep a keen eye on Salah, who is already threatening his Anfield scoring record.
Owen plundered 158 goals in 297 appearances during his eight years at Liverpool, his boyhood club, but he never once matched the single-season figures Salah has posted this year.
The Egyptian has 44 Liverpool goals to his name so far, having arrived on Merseyside from Roma last summer. At this rate, he will pass Owen’s tally after three-and-a-half seasons at the club, with a year-and-a-half remaining on his current contract.
Liverpool will hope European Cup history from May 1981 will repeat itself.
When Liverpool beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the final 37 years ago, it was the only time an English team beat a Spanish opponent to lift the iconic trophy in the competition's 63-year history.
Each England vs Spain final since then has gone Spain's way, though none involved Madrid.
Barcelona accounted for all three wins, beating Arsenal in the 2006 final, and Manchester United twice, in 2009 and two years later.
Madrid has lost all three of its European finals against British teams, however.
Even Liverpool's past players are getting in on proceedings.
Former Reds midfielder Lucas Leiva is pulling for his old club to do enough tonight.
Goals, goals, goals. This season is the most prolific in the Champions League era.
A strike rate of 3.20 goals per game — 397 in 124 games so far at one goal every 28 minutes — has beaten the record of 3.04 set last season.
And the two highest-scoring teams are in the final. Liverpool have scored 40 goals and Real Madrid 30 — half of their total scored by Cristiano Ronaldo alone.
Unlike Liverpool, who have had three players ruled out through injury who otherwise may have started and a couple of late fitness worries, Real have a clean bill of health for Zidane to choose from.
Some players of course pick themselves, but the main selection headache for the Frenchman comes with deciding who will play to the right of Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in the front three.
Gareth Bale’s exquisite recent form has seen him with the strongest shout of starting, having been restricted to a 10-minute cameo in last year’s final in his home town of Cardiff.
However, Zidane may opt to instead go for the running and industry of Lucas Vazquez, as he did in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich. Vazquez’s discipline could be integral in shackling Liverpool’s attacking threat.
The third option is Isco, whose form at the tail end of last season inspired Real to their 12th European Cup, but he has struggled to replicate that so far this season, and therefore is the outside bet of the three to start.
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Jurgen Klopp has picked his Liverpool starting eleven for the Champions League final.
With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain no longer available Klopp's selection was a relatively straighforward one with Loris Karius preferred over Simon Mignolet in goal and Dejan Lovren partnering Virgil van Dijk in the heart of defence.
Trent Alexander-Arnold's outstanding late-season form has seen him nail down the starting right-back position with Andrew Robertson equally impressive on the other flank.
Jordan Henderson skippers the side from the middle of the park with Giorginio Wijnaldum and James Milner either side of him.
Top scorer Mohamed Salah joins free scoring running mates Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in attack.
Zinedine Zidane only had one real selection headache and has opted to leave Gareth Bale in reserve with Isco preferred in behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema.
Let's unpack all of that then.
Really is as expected for Liverpool with fit-again midfielder Emre Can, who has not played since the end of March, having to settle for a place on the bench in possibly his last game for the club as his contract runs out next month and he has rejected all offers of a new deal so far.
Zidane picked the out-of-form Karim Benzema (three goals in his last 17 matches) ahead of Gareth Bale, scorer of five goals in his last five matches, to partner Cristiano Ronaldo up front.
Kick-off a little over an hour away.
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