InterviewAndy Robertson primed to equal his Liverpool pinnacle in Paris
Andy Robertson wants to replicate the pinnacle of his Liverpool career in tonight's Champions League final.
The Reds meet Real Madrid at Paris’ Stade de France with the club’s seventh European Cup and the seventh major trophy of Robertson’s glittering Anfield spell on the line.
Two of the six pieces of silverware – namely the Emirates FA Cup and Carabao Cup – the Scot has lifted since moving to Merseyside in 2017 have been collected this season, meaning Jürgen Klopp’s team could create more history by completing a cup treble.
However, when asked by UEFA to pick out his fondest memory as a Liverpool player, Robertson looked back to June 2019, when the Reds beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to become champions of Europe.
“That night in Madrid will live with me for the rest of my life,” the No.26 said.
“Obviously the season before we just fell short in Kyiv and to then get to another Champions League final, it doesn’t always happen. Some people only get to one and they’re blessed to be in one and all of a sudden, we were in two within the space of a year and we went and won it.
“When I look back on that night, the smile I have on my face any time I come across pictures or memories of me seeing my fiancée or my mum and dad on the pitch, or my little one on the pitch, how happy they all were and everything.
“It’s the happiest – without taking away all my family stuff that I’ve been happy about – in football, for the days after that I just couldn’t stop smiling. And for me, that’s definitely the fondest memory.
“Winning the Premier League and everything was great but it’s more of a long slog, and obviously COVID had hit and everything like that.
“But when I look back on one day, that day in Madrid, the build-up, everything before the game, getting videos off people that mean a lot to me and then going out and performing like we did and getting our hands on the big trophy, it just makes me smile every time I think about it.”
Tonight’s tie represents Robertson’s third Champions League final and continues a remarkable personal journey that began as a part-time footballer in his homeland only a decade ago.
Did he believe that he would go on to reach such heights back then?
“No, definitely not,” the Scotland captain replied.
“Obviously I had dreams at that time and I thought of how it could go and what was the best-case scenario, and obviously it’s blown that out of the water I think.
“I couldn’t have dreamed of what’s happened but I’m delighted with the journey that I’ve been on and how it’s all panned out.
“But I think if you took me back to that time and you tried to say what I was going to do, the big games I was going to play in, I’d have still laughed in your face I think!”