12.35pm BST
Good evening. Real Madrid and Liverpool know all about the healing power of the European Cup. Between them they have been champions of Europe 19 times - yet in 14 of those seasons, they weren’t champions of their own country. On a few occasions, they finished as low as fifth in their domestic league, but nobody cared about nine months of domestic misery when they were lifting the big one.
I doubt we’ll forget Liverpool’s surreal 2020-21 title defence in a hurry, but we’ll see it through very different eyes if they end the season by lifting a seventh European Cup. Real could still win La Liga - they are third, three points off the leaders Atletico Madrid, but it’s unlikely, especially with Barcelona in such rampant form. Real could live with being third in Spain and first on the continent. They, more than any other club in Europe - arguably the world - are defined by European competition.
Continue reading...

More...