Eventually, the talking stops. Jürgen Klopp and his players have done all the interviews. They have been through all the tactics and there will come a time on Saturday evening, in the bowels of the NSC Olimpiyskiy, when they will be in their dressing room, fighting their nerves and, as Klopp acknowledged, those are the moments when Real Madrid’s experience will count in favour of the 12-times champions.

Liverpool’s opponents will be trying to emulate the great Ajax and Bayern Munich sides of the 1970s by winning this competition three seasons in a row, bringing their number of triumphs to 13 in total. Madrid, in Klopp’s words, “work like a clock from Switzerland” and, no matter how Liverpool have prepared for Cristiano Ronaldo, the lesson of history shows the five-times Ballon d’Or winner usually manages to leave his mark on these occasions.

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It also shows that Liverpool have conceded the first goal in their last three European Cup finals and, going back to that famous night in Istanbul 13 years ago, that they were behind inside the opening 60 seconds against Milan. The free-kick Djimi Traoré gave away in the buildup to Paolo Maldini’s goal was put down to stage fright on the part of the Liverpool defender. Yet it did not need long in Klopp’s company to realise he thinks the current team have too much in their favour to allow nerves to take over.

“I am pretty sure in the second before the game that Real Madrid will be more confident than we are,” Klopp said, “but that is not a problem because the game doesn’t end in that second, it only starts. We’ve had two weeks to prepare and analyse. I’ve looked at the teams they have played – and they have played really strong teams. But they never played us and we are Liverpool. Not only are we a really good football team but this club has in its DNA to go for the big things. We are Liverpool. Nobody expected us to be here but we are here because we are Liverpool.

The team with the most goals in the run to the final? It’s us. I can’t believe it but it’s true Jürgen Klopp

“The team with the most goals in the run to the final? It’s us. I can’t believe it but it’s true. We have scored the most goals and had exceptional performances. The experience they [Madrid] have is an advantage, 100%, but experience does not help you all the time. We need to make it as difficult as we can for them. We cannot try to fight on their level but tactics in football are there to bring a better opponent to your level and when they are on your level you can beat them.”

Klopp is entitled to speak confidently when his side have accumulated 46 goals, if qualifiers are counted, in this season’s competition, beating the record Barcelona set with 45 in the 1999-2000 season. Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané have managed 31 between them and, in all competitions, that trio have scored 90 times. Salah alone has 44. Of course Klopp should be optimistic if his team can find the right balance between attack and defence, eliminate the mistakes that helped Roma in the semi-finals and hope that Loris Karius, their erratic goalkeeper, has an accident-free night.

If they can manage all that, it is perfectly plausible Jordan Henderson can follow Emlyn Hughes (1977 and 1978), Phil Thompson (1981), Graeme Souness (1984) and Steven Gerrard (2005) by lifting the trophy.

Madrid, after all, conceded 44 goals in La Liga last season and, to put that into context, it was more than Getafe in eighth position or 11th-placed Espanyol let in. That, however, does not change the fact that Zinedine Zidane’s team are always formidable opponents on the big nights or that even in this record-breaking season for Salah there is still one player, Ronaldo, who is outscoring him, 15-11, in this competition.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane keeps a watch over his players during a Real Madrid training session. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/Guardian

Last season Ronaldo scored twice for Madrid when they beat Juventus 4-1 in the final. In 2016, when the opposition in the final were Atlético Madrid, his was the decisive kick in the shootout. As for 2014, facing Atlético at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, Ronaldo scored again from 12 yards and la Décima was confirmed. And 2018? Nobody would be surprised if Ronaldo has his top off, flexing his pecs for the cameras, if Liverpool defend as obligingly as they did in the Europa League final against Sevilla two years ago. Or, thinking back to their performance in the Stadio Olimpico a few weeks ago, the second leg of their semi-final against Roma.

Should that happen, Zidane will leave the group of 18 managers, including Brian Clough, Sir Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, who have won this competition twice and move alongside Carlo Ancelotti and Bob Paisley as a three-times winner. Except Zidane will have done it in less time than anybody. Which probably explains why Klopp was so nonplussed when it was put to him Zidane was not renowned for his tactical knowledge.

“If a lot of people think Zinedine Zidane has not a lot of tactical knowledge and then people think the same about me that would be really funny,” Klopp said. “The two managers in the Champions League final have no clue about tactics? What would that say about the game?

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“For me, Zinedine Zidane is one of the best five players of all time in football. Unfortunately I have to accept that he is as brilliant [as a manager] as he was a player. I’ve been longer in Liverpool than him at Real Madrid and now he can win the Champions League for a third time. That’s never happened before.

“This group of [Madrid] players work like a clock from Switzerland. I saw his team a lot of times and it is fantastic football. It is organised when it needs to be organised and chaos when it needs to be chaos. They are all world-class players but it is football and always there is an opportunity for the other team. We are proud to be here. Let’s do the best we can and let’s play.”