Mo Salah Wants Liverpool To Face Real Madrid Rather Than Man City In UCL Final

Mohamed Salah has admitted that he wants Real Madrid to beat Manchester City so that Liverpool avoid Pep Guardiola's side in the Champions League final.

Mohamed Salah has admitted that Liverpool's objective this season is to win the quadruple.

Liverpool's players and manager Jurgen Klopp had been keen to play down talk of such a feat in previous weeks.

But after Liverpool beat Villarreal 5-2 on aggregate to reach their third Champions League final in five years, Salah told BT Sport: "The quadruple is the target now.

"Maybe not at the start of the season. I am always honest and focus on the Champions League and Premier League. But now, why not?"

Salah added that he began to seriously believe in the possibility of Liverpool winning four major trophies this season after they beat Manchester City 3-2 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in April.

Despite getting the better of City in the FA Cup, Salah is hoping to avoid Pep Guardiola's side in the Champions League final in Paris.

City take a 4-3 first-leg lead over Real Madrid to Spain on Wednesday.

"I want to play Madrid," said Salah. "City is a really tough team."

If indeed Real do overcome City, this year's UCL final would be a repeat of the 2018 showpiece.

That match does not hold happy memories for Salah, who was injured in the first half before Real beat Liverpool 3-1 in Kyiv.

Mo Salah (right) was injured during this clash with Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos in the 2018 Champions League final :: IMAGO/MIS

Unlike Salah, Liverpool center-back Virgil van Dijk does not appear to have a preference over who his team meet in the final.

"Any team that we face in the final of this competition will be a nightmare to play against," said the Dutchman.

"We know City but they know us too. We know how intense those games are. Real Madrid is Real Madrid - such a big club and an in-form striker [in Karim Benzema]."

On talk of the quadruple, Van Dijk added: "If you listen to us and the manager it is obvious that we don't think about these things.

"You can dream but you need to be realistic. Football is small margins."