Virgil van Dijk insists Liverpool must play as they have all season as they enter the unfamiliar territory of a Champions League final.
The Reds face a mammoth challenge against a Real Madrid side looking for a third consecutive European crown and a fourth in five years.
It marks the high-calibre contest all affiliated with the club have been eager to see Liverpool’s empathic attacking force test itself in.
Van Dijk has urged his side to be as bold as they have throughout the campaign, regardless of the opposition and their pedigree in the competition.
“I’ve said it before, we’re not here for no reason – we deserve to be here,” he told Liverpoolfc.com.
“We need to show that as well on the pitch: be brave, do our thing, do what we normally do. It’s a one-off game, but we need to just be confident and show what we’re good at.”
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“Only the Roma away game we’ve lost in the Champions League, so that says a lot. The way we play, if everyone is 100 per cent and the tactics are spot-on, then we can make it difficult for any team.”
The pervasive belief has been that Jurgen Klopp’s men are capable of hurting any side in world football on their day and now they have the opportunity to justify it.
An underdog status arguably grants the Reds free reign to play without fear and throw everything at a Madrid defence that has proven it has weaknesses during the route to the final.
Bayern Munich provided a timely insight into the ability for the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane to exploit the space left by the attacking ambition of Madrid’s full-backs.
The La Liga giants pose a daunting attacking force of their own, but they also enter the contest with unfamiliar questions looming over them.