‘Could blow them away’ – Michael Owen offers his score prediction as two of his former sides face off in Saturday’s Champions League final

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Michael Owen has backed Liverpool to defeat Real Madrid in this weekend’s Champions League final and has suggested that the Reds may ‘blow’ Carlo Ancelotti’s side ‘away’.

Jurgen Klopp’s side are chasing their seventh European Cup/Champions League against the 13-times winners in Paris on Saturday and the 42-year-old believes the Anfield outfit are ‘too good’ for the Spaniards.

“I think Liverpool are better than Madrid and they could blow them away. 3-1 or 3-0 is my prediction,” he told Sportsmail (via Sport Bible). ​​

“I think they could beat them reasonably convincingly because they are an exceptional team at the minute and are too good for Madrid.”​

Although the 2001 Ballon d’Or winner has admiration for the way in which the Los Blancos have reached yet another European Cup final, he thinks the experience of this current Liverpool squad may be the difference when the two sides clash at the Stade de France.

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“Madrid have just done phenomenally well to get to the final,” he added. ​

“I’m sure they believe their name is on the title what with scrapping through the group stage and then of course Chelsea was incredible how they got through that. Manchester City was just mind-blowing how they beat them as well.

“But I think Liverpool are so experienced and so good. They won’t want to get into a grind with them because I think Madrid are the ultimate team when it comes to know-how and winning close games.”

Klopp will be boosted by the return of Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho, but the German is sweating on the fitness of key midfielder Thiago Alcantara.

He’s currently nursing an achilles injury sustained in Sunday’s win over Wolves but should return to training today, the former Borussia Dortmund boss confirmed yesterday.

We’re of course expecting a difficult game against Ancelotti’s side but the lads should be spurred on with motivation from the 2018 final defeat to Madrid.

If we stick to our usual high standards and do what we’ve done all season long, there’s no reason why we won’t be running round Paris with the cup on Saturday night.

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