UEFA Champions League Final Preview – Tottenham vs Liverpool, Saturday 1st June 2019

Will Liverpool end an extraordinary – but so far trophy-less – season with a Champions League victory over Tottenham this Saturday, at 8pm on BT Sport 2?

In any other year, the Reds would have won the Premier League. Finishing with 7 more points than the 2003/4 Invincibles, Liverpool lost a solitary game all season, the best record of any team. Yet that defeat happened to be against a monstrous Man City, Pep Guardiola’s lot eventually successfully defending their title by a single point.

But. And it’s a big but. Jurgen Klopp’s men are still in the running for arguably a shinier prize: the Champions League. They’re been a bit of a rollercoaster. The group stage was a mess, with 3 losses and 3 wins leaving them 2nd behind PSG. That set up a last-16 battle against Bayern Munich, one the Reds came out of with a 3-1 win thanks to a victory at the Allianz Arena. Porto weren’t much of a problem in the quarter-finals, with Liverpool triumphing 6-1 over the 2 legs.

And then there was the semi-final. Like so many teams before them, they left the Nou Camp at the end of the 1st leg with little-to-no hope, needing to overcome a 3-0 deficit at Anfield. And, amazingly, they did. Braces from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum gave them a 4-0 win, propelling them into Saturday’s final.

Tottenham’s journey to the Wanda Metropolitano was just as dramatic. They only got into the last-16 on head-to-head away goals over Inter Milan, finishing 6 points shy of group leaders Barcelona, before easily overcoming Borussia Dortmund 4-0 on aggregate. A domestic quarter-final against Man City saw a 1-0 win in London followed by a thrilling 2nd leg, Spurs benefitting from 3 away goals and a fortunate VAR decision in stoppage time.

It seemed doubtful Tottenham’s semi-final could match the theatrics of Liverpool’s. Instead Spurs made an absolute meal of it, losing the 1st leg 1-0 at home to Ajax, before going 2-0 down in Amsterdam. Yet a remarkable 2nd half hat-trick from Lucas Moura took the club through to their first ever Champions League final.

Despite his heroics, Lucas travels to Madrid with a Super Mega PGM of just 14-18, behind Fernando Llorente at 16-20, and the returning Harry Kane at 31-37. Mohamed Salah, meanwhile, leads the pack at 43-50, followed by Sadio Mane at 33-39.