Open Thread: 24 May 2022

The Open Thread/Daily Merengue is a place where you can discuss anything and everything related to football. Feel free to discuss the topics presented here, or start your very own discussions! The Open thread will be posted every day by one of the mods: Valyrian Steel, Felipejack, YoSnail, Ezek lx or NeRObutBlanco.

Training begins for the final.

The players completed their first training session of the week at Real Madrid City in preparation for the Champions League final where they will take on Liverpool at the Stade de France. One piece of good news is the return of David Alaba, coming off an injury and expected to start in Paris.

Klopp Speaks and Thiago Alcantara Update.

The Spanish midfielder underwent a scan on Monday which eased fears that he suffered significant damage during Sunday’s 3-1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield. However, it remains unclear at this stage whether he will be fit for Saturday’s showdown against Real Madrid in Paris. The Reds also face a second injury concern in midfield with Fabinho out since the 2-1 win at Aston Villa but the Brazilian is hoping to train later this week.

Lots of attacking names being thrown around initially in the past few days.

Any of them pique your interest? We’ve got young guns like Nkunku, Rafael Leao and Darvin Nunez, established stars like Salah and a solid option in Gnabry. Anybody else you can think of? Ancelotti already confirmed Hazard is staying while Asensio’s future is up in the air. So who would fit best and help this team pick up silverware next season?

Here’s another interesting option to shore up the midfield.