Robertson: I watched the last CL final at home with a curry

One year ago, the Scot watched Real Madrid beat Juventus to win the 2017 Champions League final with family and a few friends at home.

Just three weeks earlier, he had experienced the low of relegation from the Premier League with Hull City. His summer transfer to the Reds was two months away.

By now you’ll already know what had come before all that: his release by Celtic as a teenager, the shifts at Hampden Park to make ends meet, the spell in the Scottish Third Division.

But, on the eve of the 2018 Champions League final and with Real once again through to the showpiece fixture in Kiev, this time Robertson won’t be watching proceedings from afar.

He’ll be playing for the trophy.

“They all came around to mine, we got a curry,” the left-back explained to Liverpoolfc.com of the stark contrast from this year to last.

“It was an incredible game; I think most of the world wanted [Gianluigi] Buffon to get his hands on the trophy, but it wasn’t meant to be for him, and Real Madrid did what they do best: showed up on the big occasion and won the trophy again.

“It’s been an incredible season, full of ups and downs, hard moments and very high moments. Hopefully we’ve got one more high moment left in us.”

Coincidentally, Robertson’s earliest memory of a European Cup final is the 2002 edition – played in his hometown, featuring Real and Zinedine Zidane.

The Frenchman, as was so often his way as a player of the highest repute, lit up that match with a sumptuous volley that has – deservedly – been replayed a million times since.

Tomorrow night in Kiev, Zidane will lead the La Liga side from the touchline as they go in search of a feat that was last achieved in 1976: winning the competition for a third successive season.

So, what’s the plan to stop them?

“They’ve got world-class players, especially going forward, that can punish you at any given time,” Robertson replies.

“As an XI, we all have to be so focused and so switched on to them, but they can throw boys forward that maybe we can exploit. We’re good going forward as well, so I think it’ll be an attacking game and hopefully our front three and the rest of us can cause them problems, we can all defend as a team, work hard and keep them out at the other end. If we do that, then we give ourselves the best possible chance.”

The best possible chance… to win the Champions League.

Nostradamus himself might have struggled to picture the manner of Liverpool’s relentless march from the play-offs to the final, a run grounded in Jürgen Klopp’s trademark brand of football, launched by the hunger of his players, and lifted ever higher by the passion and belief of the fans.

“The manager has always had a don’t-lay-down attitude; he’s fought for everything he’s got and that rubs off on us,” explains one of the supporters’ favourite sons.

“All the players are very similar; we’re a hard-working group that wants to be successful. We’ve all come together and that pays off.

“If we can get one more game with that attitude then hopefully we’ll be champions of Europe.

“It’s what the lads are all dreaming of, but we know how hard it is going to be and what a task it is in front of us. But we’ll also hopefully be well equipped for it and deal with the challenges they throw at us.”

Words feel insufficient when describing Robertson’s debut campaign with the Reds. Lucky, then, that the eager grin which forms on his face as he tries to find sufficient ones does the job much better.

Pride of his club, pride of his country.

“I don’t think I quite see myself as a role model, I just try to go out and present myself in the best possible way, whether it’s on or off the pitch. If people look up to me then so be it,” says the No.26.

“In terms of my story, I hope people up in Scotland who are in a similar place to where I was can look at me and think, ‘don’t give up hope’ because I know a lot of people I used to play with maybe did. They ended up falling out of love with the game when maybe they were better technically than most of the players, but maybe got a setback and didn’t quite deal with it.

“If people are in that situation then I hope they can maybe look at me and a few other lads who’ve had a good story and realise that maybe when you get a setback, it’s not quite the end of the road and it’s all about how you bounce back. If we can get a few more for Scotland then so be it and I am sure the nation would be happy with that.”

One place where he is now an unavoidable role model is at home, having become a father earlier in the season.

“It’s massively different,” he notes. “There’s added responsibility, but it is the greatest feeling in the world being a parent, especially in the last couple of months and watching him develop into his character, full of life – probably a wee bit too much! We’ll be chasing after him in no time! But what an incredible feeling.”

If Klopp’s men are to reach the pinnacle, they’ll have to overcome an array of the world’s finest players, a collection of stars for whom hoisting aloft Old Big Ears has, somehow, turned into a routine.

In the case of left-back Marcelo, the Reds must stop the No.1 man in his position, according to Robertson.

“He is unbelievable. The stuff he does – especially going forward – is incredible. He is the best left-back in the world just now, in my view,” states the Scotland international.

“To play at that club for the amount of time he has and to win the trophies he has is an unbelievable achievement. It’ll be nice to come up against him, but I hope I’m the left-back celebrating at the end!

“He is one of many with unbelievable quality in that team. It’s been a joy to watch him over the last however many years and he just keeps on getting better.”

Robertson readily admits there’ll be nerves in the moments before he steps onto the pitch at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Ukraine’s capital city.

How couldn’t there be?

But overcoming life’s hurdles is one of his shining character traits.

His release by Celtic as a teenager, the shifts at Hampden Park to make ends meet, the spell in the Scottish Third Division. Beating Real Madrid to win the Champions League…?

“It’s all about how you use the nerves. You need to use them to your advantage. We’ve done that so far,” Robertson insists as our interview reaches its conclusion.

“Roma, we would have been nervous. Man City, but we used it to our advantage – we used it to drive us on instead of shying away from the challenge. That’s what we’ve got to do on Saturday, from the first whistle you need to use the nerves and everything that comes with it in the right way.

“Hopefully if we can then we can put on a good show for ourselves, a good performance, and if we can then we believe we can get our hands on the trophy.”