With just two days to go until the biggest game of their careers, Liverpool players have arrived at Melwood ahead of their flight to Kiev for the Champions League final.
Reds stars, including Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold were pictured driving into the training ground on Thursday morning, where they will leave their cars and head to John Lennon Airport.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are due to fly to Ukraine at 1pm, arriving in Kiev in the early evening. The players then have a full day on Friday to prepare, before facing Real Madrid in the biggest match of their season on Saturday night.
Liverpool’s leading star, Mohamed Salah, arrives at Melwood before the flight to Ukraine
Trent Alexander-Arnold gives the thumbs up as he gets set to fly out for the final
Virgil van Dijk is gearing up to stop Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid in Saturday’s final
Goalkeeper Loris Karius is getting set for his first ever Champions League final
Cristiano Ronaldo and Co are all that stands between Liverpool and a sixth European Cup, but it will be a tough task with Real having won the title for the last two seasons.
There didn’t appear to be any nerves in the Liverpool camp on Thursday though, as Lovren posted a relaxed video to his Instagram account.
In the clip, he flicks between radio stations in his car, pulling a funny face when some classical music blares out of the speakers.
The centre-back was wearing Liverpool training gear, with all the players expected to fly in the same outfits – as has been commonplace throughout the season.
Lovren has had a topsy-turvy campaign, coming in for criticism on some occasions, but he was backed by Klopp this week.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson drove into Melwood alongside Adam Lallana
Roberto Firmino (left) arrived alongside fellow Liverpool team-mate Alberto Moreno
Sadio Mane is eyeing his 10th Champions League goal of the season against Madrid in the final
Against Tottenham in October, the manager hooked Lovren after half an hour in one of his worst performances in a Liverpool shirt, and Klopp admitted he didn’t speak to him after the game.
Despite that, the German insists Lovren is a world-class defender and he is set to start him on Saturday night.
‘Two positions that are really, really difficult to play for Liverpool: goalkeeper and centre half,’ Klopp told The Mirror. ‘It’s like you can never be good enough, whatever you do, they still say “we need a world-class replacement”.
Scotland defender Andy Robertson pictured arriving at Melwood on Thursday morning
Dejan Lovren pictured on Instagram heading to meet up with his Liverpool team-mates
‘The Tottenham game I was angry. It wasn’t like I was saying, “Boys, never mind it can happen, forget about it”. Not even one per cent of that. I was really angry.
‘I took Dejan off after 25 minutes and I didn’t speak to him afterwards. But then a few days later I saw him waiting for my talk, so I said come in. “You took me off after 20 minutes”. “Because you were bad”.
‘But I said to him – maybe this was the decisive moment when he got it – I think he’s a world-class centre half, 100 per cent.’