Champions League final 2019 - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp centre of attention

How close are we to the Champions League final? Well, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was given around three minutes of last night’s Channel 4 News to unpack his views on Brexit and the state of politics generally.

It is pretty well established by this point that Klopp has Good Opinions about Brexit. He probably reads The New European and if he was on Twitter his display name would have #FBPE stuck on the end of it and he’d be enthusiastically retweeting Gary Lineker and James O’Brien every five minutes. Still, it was slightly surprising to see a leading national news bulletin devote so much time to some pretty tepid takes on the state of things from the Liverpool manager.

But this was just the latest stage of the Klopp Media Assault. An exclusive interview with The Independent on Thursday. An exclusive interview with The Telegraph today. Liverpool’s pre-Champions League final training camp in Marbella has been more like a press junket for a Hollywood blockbuster.

By contrast, sightings of Mauricio Pochettino have been few and far between. No big set-piece interviews, no primetime platforms to discuss encroaching NHS privatisation. Just a cosy chat with Guillem Balague. And despite the galaxy of stars that will be on display in Madrid, as well as the Tottenham team, this final does seem to coalescing around one man – with an uproarious laugh and a suspiciously perfect set of teeth.

Maybe it’s because Klopp took Liverpool so close to Manchester City. Maybe it’s because he’s lost two Champions League finals before. Maybe it’s because he’s lost his past six finals in a row (Champions League final 2013, German Cup final 2014, German Cup final 2015, League Cup final 2016, Europa League final 2016, Champions League final 2018). Maybe it’s because he’s been doing the media rounds like the cast of Avengers. But there does feel like a sense of inevitability around this. That this will be Klopp’s moment.

Klopp told Channel 4 News yesterday evening: "And in these things, in a moment, a lot of politicians do again what other politicians did in the past as well. They always work with making people afraid of the future: 'if you don't react now, this and this and this will happen in the future.' And the other people with a bit more positive view on the future, nobody listens to them, they are not there.”

Klopp is an eternal optimist. And maybe this could be his time.

When Sergio Ramos called a press conference yesterday, the football world was abuzz. What would the Real Madrid captain be announcing? His imminent departure? A full apology to Mohamed Salah and compensation to the city of Liverpool? That he had solved the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture?

Instead, the anti-climax came when it transpired all Ramos had to say was that he was staying at Real Madrid, following suggestions that he had asked for a free transfer in order to join an unnamed Chinese club. Suggestions confirmed by Florentino Perez, who said: "I told Ramos that it was impossible for Real Madrid to let their captain go for free.”

Denied a monumental payday, Ramos has now been spinning the line that he never wanted to leave in the first place.

"It is true that I have an offer from China on the table, I will not lie about it," said Ramos, who has two years left on his contract.

"I told the president that I would never go to a team that could compete with Real Madrid. If one day I go then it is because I think my body does not allow me to give a high level.

"I am the captain of Real Madrid and I feel very loved and supported by my team-mates. I'm not looking to renew [my contract]. I am happy with what I have. People always think it's a strategy to earn more, but it's the opposite."

The opposite? So it’s a strategy to… earn less? The Warm-Up looks forward to hearing which charitable causes Ramos is donating his wages to this season.

Hot off the press this morning, Antonio Conte is back in football management after becoming the new Inter boss, replacing Luciano Spalletti. It’s a big old job for Conte, with Inter finishing 21 points adrift of Juventus, the club he reestablished as a major force in Europe with the first three of their ongoing eight-title streak.

But with Juve having binned off Massimiliano Allegri, and seemingly failed to land Pep Guardiola, Conte may spot an opportunity to try and end the run he started.

It must take Lionel Messi about a week to get to the shops and back, based on this clip of him trying to leave training yesterday, only to be accosted by members of the Argentina youth team.

And, well, yeah, this is pretty funny:

The son of a midfielder most famous for having his knee demolished by Roy Keane (yes, Alf Inge Haaland), the Norway Under-20 striker had an astonishing performance in the World Cup game against Honduras yesterday as he scored NINE goals. Oh, and he first rose to prominence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde. Time for a move to Old Trafford?

Yeah, still not over that one.

On the eve of only the second all-English Champions League final, what else could we do but look back at the first? Here’s a 10-minute tactical breakdown of all the key moments from that engrossing contest between Manchester United and Chelsea in Moscow in 2008.

Just joking: it’s John Terry missing his penalty:

It’s the big one tomorrow, and Ben Snowball is on the ground for us in Madrid so look out for updates on our social channels before he gets along to the game tomorrow. In the meantime, there’s loads on sport on Eurosport with the French Open and Giro d’Italia both continuing today.