The big day is almost upon us. The UEFA Champions League Final. The day when the biggest prize in club football is up for grabs.
This seasons competition has been one of the most entertaining and compelling in recent years with plenty of shocks, goals and entertainment leading up to UEFA's showpiece event in Madrid on Sunday.
A different name will be on the trophy for the first time in three years after Real Madrid were eliminated in the round of sixteen. This time we have an all-English final, with Premier League duo Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur facing off at Atletico's fantastic Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs arrive in the final for the first time in their history after a superb run which has seen them knock out the likes of Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax.
But their opponents know all about the pressures of reaching this stage, after finishing as runners-up twelve months ago. Jurgen Klopp's men were beaten 3-1 by Real Madrid in Kiev in what proved to be an immensely difficult day for everyone involved with the club, not many more so than then goalkeeper Loris Karius.
The German went into that game on the back of a pretty decent campaign for the Reds, but during his time at Anfield there has always been uncertainty surrounding him and whether he's good enough to be their no.1. However, the nerves and the pressure of the day got to him on match day as we all know, making two colossal errors to effectively gift Real the trophy.
There was no coming back from that for Karius, who was soon shipped out on loan to Turkish outfit Besiktas and replaced by Roma's Alisson Becker - who cost the Reds a massive £66m. The Brazilian has been a massive success since arriving on Merseyside and he appears to be one of the few who has actually sympathy for his predecessor, after he claimed the outcome of the final wasn't Karius' fault.
"I don't think you can put it one guy's shoulders," Alisson said when speaking to ESPN. "The team has 11 guys. When we win, everyone wins. And when we lose, everyone loses. It wasn't Karius who lost that match, Liverpool did. This year we have a new opportunity."
Karius is still technically a Liverpool player so it's good to see Alisson defending a teammate. But we know for a fact that the fans don't echo this view and there will be some of his colleagues who feel that way too, such was the high profile nature of those mistakes.
Alisson has made a couple of errors himself during the season but overall he's been a revelation, keeping 21 clean sheets in the Premier League alone which is some achievement. Playing for a club the size of Liverpool comes with enormous pressure and he sympathises with the German.
"We know the feeling of making a mistake in a competition as big as the Champions League; it's something that can stick with you for the rest of your career," Alisson admitted.
"But in life we always have the chance to make it better. I try to stay aware of everything. When I do something well, I don't let it get to my head. And when I make a mistake, I don't let it either."
