Essential Football

Champions League final special: Alexander-Arnold vs Vinicius, records on the line, the view from Madrid and the latest from Paris

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Episode notes

In a Champions League final preview special of the Essential Football Podcast, host Ron Walker is joined by a trio of guests to look ahead to the European club showpiece of the season as Liverpool take on 13-time winners Real Madrid in Paris.

Sky Sports digital football journalists Richard Morgan and Nick Wright talk us through where the game will be won and lost for Liverpool, whether their Premier League title battle will put them at a disadvantage and how Trent Alexander-Arnold and Vinicius Junior will be a key battle at the Stade de France.

Spanish football expert Ben Hayward also joins us to give us the mood from Madrid, where Carlo Ancelotti has been able to rest a number of his key players ahead of the final, and could make his own history if he becomes the first manager to lift the European Cup four times. Ben also explains why Real Madrid have become so synonymous with Champions League success – and what has driven their sensational never-say-die attitude this season.

Finally, Sky Sports features writer Adam Bate dials in from the French capital to update us on the latest on the atmosphere in Paris as well as explaining how the temperature could play its part, and give his prediction for Saturday’s spectacle.