I NEVER have any problem remembering my movements on 25 May, 2005. The Champions League final in Istanbul, contested by Milan and Liverpool, was a meeting of hot favourites and clear underdogs. ESPN had kindly asked me to fly to Turkey to commentate and at half time, it seemed a record margin of victory in a major European final was likely. Milan were rampant, Liverpool forlorn. It was a mis-match.

That the Reds did the apparently impossible by beating the cream of the Champions League crop in such unlikely circumstances, has made that triumph perhaps the sweetest of the club’s five final successes and definitely one for Liverpool folklore.

This season has occasionally given cause to flash back to 2005, although I believe the present squad under Jurgen Klopp to be better, more rounded and flexible, than the Rafa Benitez team which scaled such impressive heights.

The draw has undoubtedly been kind to Liverpool this season. In Porto and Roma they have overcome two sides not quite their equal. Manchester City, of course, would be no one’s idea of a soft touch. Yet, just as in the Premier League in January, so it was in the Champions League last month. Some teams simply match up well against others and Liverpool’s ferociously effective counter-attacking proved too potent for a strangely strangled City.

Had Liverpool been paired with Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich in a two-legged contest earlier in the competition, I would not have favoured them. But a one-off final might well be grist to their mill.

Not that anyone is suggesting it will be easy on Saturday in Kiev. It won’t be straightforward against the team who have stamped their mark on the Champions League in a manner everyone else can only dream of.

I am not alone in having been guilty this season of describing Real Madrid as fortunate in certain games. But then the realisation hits. When you have lifted the most coveted trophy in European football a record 12 times and are going for a third straight final victory, it is surely more than just luck that propels you.

When Cristiano Ronaldo is the man leading the attack, it is little wonder magical things happen. At 33, he remains as devastating as ever. In fact, seasoning has served to make this stand-out of his generation a whisker more complete, if that were possible.

Liverpool’s rearguard, including excellent Scotland international Andy Robertson, will have to be on their toes from the outset. It must be said, they have a defensive mistake or two in them, particularly courtesy of the oft erratic Dejan Lovren. Real Madrid are simply the wrong team to show benevolence to.

What the merengues do better than anyone is wait for the right moment and then pounce with ruthlessly timed precision. It is uncanny how often they win big European games in this fashion; the semi-final first leg against Bayern serves as a prime example.

Overall, I think Real Madrid are superior to Liverpool in the goalkeeping position, at the back and in midfield. Keylor Navas tops Lorius Karius. Sergio Ramos, the peerless Marcelo, plus the urbane Toni Kroos and Luka Modric are players you would pick ahead of Liverpool’s equivalents.

But then we come to the thrilling three – Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino. As a trio, they give Liverpool their inspiration. At times it may look as though the irresistible Salah is a one-man band but the work put in alongside him by the men from Senegal and Brazil is what allows the talented Egyptian to dazzle. They more resemble a collective whole than three individuals doing their thing on an ad-hoc basis.

For Liverpool to succeed, it will take every ounce of concentration and diligence. I am not sure Real Madrid’s style suits Liverpool in the way Manchester City did in the quarter-final. In spells during the final, the Klopp XI will be asked to come up with their own possession symphony rather than playing the heavy metal game on the break that they have perfected. Real Madrid will sit tight and then hope to plunder with typical efficiency.

It would be folly to make Real Madrid anything other than favourites, but then you start thinking back to 2005 and prevailing against the odds. Liverpool can do this.

WITHIN hours of the Premier League season ending, two experienced managers, Sam Allardyce at Everton and David Moyes at West Ham United, were dismissed.

Both brought in before the halfway mark to stave off the genuine threat of relegation, Allardyce and Moyes surely did the jobs they were asked to carry out. Finishing eighth and 13th can be construed as a positive achievement. But fan power is having its say and, frankly, having none of it.

The message is clear. It is no longer good enough to exist without a heartbeat in the Premier League. There has to be something more watchable and eye-catching when players are multi-millionaires and expected to entertain.

It does make you wonder what the future holds for the concept of bringing in an experienced hand, with no commitment to getting pulses racing with his preferred brand of football. There are enough coaches out there, most of them not from British shores, with the confidence and acumen to try something bolder. Ralph Hasenhuttl, who left his post at RB Leipzig last week, is the type of innovative thinker who falls in this category and would fit in well.

Moyes probably thought he did everything in his remit. But having been at West Ham recently, and spoken to supporters, it was easy to sense the locals were just not willing to accept more of the same mediocrity.

Then on Friday, the relegated managers took the fall, including another battle-hardened boss from the west of Scotland. Paul Lambert is a man around whom a strong case could have been constructed for retention. Demotion was not wholly of his making, he had no transfer window and there were signs of vitality in his brief time at the helm. He deserved the chance to take Stoke City back into the top flight.

Carlos Carvalhal’s departure at Swansea was altogether less surprising. Having failed to win promotion with Sheffield Wednesday in successive years, he hardly looked like the man to lead the Welsh club into the promised land again.

Meanwhile, the popular Darren Moore will be given a crack at doing just that with West Brom. Let us hope it makes more clubs contemplate promoting from within.