Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
After having played for Lazio, Inter Milan and Ajax, it’s safe to assume Aron Winter knows what he’s talking about and according to the 1988 Euro winner with Holland, Real Madrid will emerge victorious in the UEFA Champions League final for a third time on the trot on Saturday.
Winter, who’s in town for a series of coaching clinics organised by the KNVB (Royal Dutch Football Association), expects Los Blancos’ superior experience to prove telling against Liverpool in the showdown in Kiev.
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“Real have a lot of experience and quality too,” Winter told The Statesman in an exclusive chat ahead of the final club game of the year before the World Cup begins.
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The Spanish giants, 12-time winners, are on course to do a three-peat, with five-time champions Liverpool standing in their way.
“Liverpool have been doing really well in the Premier League and I hope it will be a beautiful final,” the 51-year-old mused.
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Despite the fact that Jurgen Klopp’s side have played some exhilarating football en route to the club’s first Champions League final in over a decade, their relative lack of experience has seen Real labelled as the favourites.
“I have seen so many finals and most of them have been disappointing for after weeks of hype, they fail to deliver but this one will be huge.”
Winter’s sentiments have been echoed by many experts for both sides have obvious flaws at the back but possess some truly world-class talents up top.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Isco are expected to lead the line for Los Blancos while the Reds have arguably the best attack triumvirate (Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah) in club football at the moment.
“Liverpool are something of surprise packages, it must be said, but I think Zinedine Zidane’s men will nick it due to their edge in experience,” Winter added with a sense of finality.
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