Champions League Final 2019: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

[Jezza]

The European Champions League Semi Final ties are now completed as Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have advanced to the Champions League Final for 2019 marking the second all-English CL final since 2008 when Manchester United and Chelsea played one another.

Liverpool will be seeking to win their 6th Champions League final and their first since their famous comeback victory against AC Milan in 2005. Liverpool last played in a Champions League Final last year where they lost to Real Madrid 3-1. Liverpool have been champions in 1977, 1978, 1981, 1984 and 2005.

Tottenham will be playing in their first Champions League Final and will be looking to make history as being the second London club after Chelsea to win the competition and the sixth English club after Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Chelsea to win the competition.

One of the amazing stats coming into this final is seeing that both sides only scraped through the group stages on goal difference.

Road to the Final:

Tottenham Hotspur:

Group Stage:
Match 1 - Inter Milan 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Match 2 - Tottenham Hotspur 2-4 Barcelona
Match 3 - PSV Eindhoven 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Match 4 - Tottenham Hotpsur 2-1 PSV Eindhoven
Match 5 - Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Inter Milan
Match 6 - Barcelona 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur

Knockout Stage:
Round of 16 - Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Borussia Dortmund (over two legs)
Quarter Final - Tottenham Hotspur 4-4 Manchester City (over two legs) - away goals rule
Semi Final - Tottenham 3-3 Ajax (over two legs) - away goals rule

Liverpool:

Group Stage:
Match 1 - Liverpool 3-2 PSG
Match 2 - Napoli 1-0 Liverpool
Match 3 - Liverpool 4-0 Red Star Belgrade
Match 4 - Red Star Belgrade 2-0 Liverpool
Match 5 - PSG 2-1 Liverpool
Match 6 - Liverpool 1-0 Napoli

Knockout Stage:
Round of 16 - Liverpool 3-1 Bayern Munich (over two legs)
Quarter Final - Liverpool 6-1 FC Porto (over two legs)
Semi Final - Liverpool 4-3 Barcelona (over two legs)



This match will be taking place at the Wanda Metropolitano in Spain on Saturday June 1 2019 with the kick off time being at 21:00 CEST. What are your predictions for this match? Will Liverpool cap off a remarkable season with a CL trophy or will Spurs make history by winning the trophy for the first time in its history?

[K]

[NB: discussion of the CL season, mainly from QF on, can be found at http://magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?t=83856 .]


Do you think EPL clubs value a CL title the same as, more than, or less than an EPL title? Mauricio Pochettino was so emotional after the last game that he was in tears, in what has probably already become a famous interview, but Mauricio is Italian!

Here's the interview:
https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/sta ... 2902036480


And Moura "breaks down as he hears the commentary of his winning goal from his native Brazil":
https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/sta ... 9816009728


Pep Guardiola (to City website):
“I need to see what I can do better because, right now, in the Champions League, I’ve not been good enough at this club. Even if we win the English trophies, it’s still not certain that we’re the best.”

... but after winning the FA Cup:
“It means being consistent every three days during 10 months. I love the Champions League but do that (the treble) is more difficult than winning the Champions League.”


Jurgen Klopp:
"Pep has to say that as he hasn't been in the Champions League final for a while."

[K]

"A change in UEFA regulations implemented ahead of the 2018-19 season means that teams are permitted to name as many as 12 substitutes for Champions League and Europa League finals - an increase on the seven replacements ordinarily allowed in the tournaments.

In keeping with the previous knockout rounds this term, managers will also be able to make an additional substitute on top of the standard number of three should the games go to extra-time."

(liverpoolfc.com)

[K]

Oz live streaming: Optus Sport, via the Optus Sport app or through partner platforms including Fetch, Apple TV, Apple Airplay, Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV and Xbox.

[K]

Liverpool, Tottenham and why the Champions League remains the greatest show in sport

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/foo ... 32561.html

"And it’s all because the Champions League knock-out stages are now the highest level of sport in terms of pure quality, without any viable rival you can think of. It is the pinnacle.
...

There isn’t another event that offers such an intense concentration of the highest quality, from the highest possible pool. As the competition that all of central Europe’s super-clubs strive for, it attracts all the interest, all the wealth, and thereby all of the talent - and that’s talent in terms of player, coach and ideas.
...

The World Cup - which is maybe the pinnacle of sport in terms of emotional investment - simply can’t get close to it in that regard, since it is now generally mid-level coaches, presiding over groups of disparate talent, who have nowhere near the preparation or integration time the clubs do.
...

This intense concentration on the Champions League in terms of supporter, media and financial interest is playing its part in eroding the rest of the game.

It tramples everything else in its wake, bar perhaps the Premier League.

The Champions League knock-outs are not just the greatest show on earth, but also the greatest show of the effects of pure capitalism, and how it can seduce us."

[K]

[Pies4shaw]

What a spectacle - a gifted goal after 26 seconds and now Liverpool are just playing out the game, waiting for the final whistle.

[K]

Liverpool champions of Europe once more, dashing Tottenham's dream

"Liverpool have beaten Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to claim the 2019 Champions League title, with a Mohamed Salah converted penalty in just the second minute of the match and a late goal from substitute Divock Origi enough to separate the two English Premier League teams.
...

It is Liverpool's sixth triumph in Europe's top club competition, moving them one clear of Barcelona and now behind only Real (13 titles) and AC Milan (7) on the all-time list.
...

... Mauricio Pochettino took a bold but ultimately misguided gamble in fielding Kane, who had only returned to full training a week ago after almost two months out with a serious ankle injury and struggled to influence play.

Kane was far from the only player who lacked sharpness in a game of few moments of real quality, a possible effect of both sides not playing any competitive games for three weeks."

(SMH, Reuters)

[Pies4shaw]

A European final with "few moments of real quality"? Must have been two English teams playing.

[K]

Highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xDIPTOGrwY


Trivia from the BBC:

"Three shots, three goals for Origi

Liverpool have won their sixth European Cup - twice as many as any other English team (Manchester United, three).

Klopp is the fourth Liverpool manager to win the European Cup, after Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan and Rafael Benitez.

Klopp is the fifth German manager to win the European Cup, after Dettmar Cramer, Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Udo Lattek but he only the second German to win the trophy with a non-German side (Heynckes with Real Madrid).

Pochettino has lost both of his major finals as Tottenham manager, also losing the League Cup final against Chelsea in 2015.

Tottenham appeared in their first ever European Cup final, becoming the eighth English side to do so. The past six first-time finalists have now lost (also Chelsea 2008, Arsenal 2006, Monaco 2004, Bayer Leverkusen 2002 and Valencia 2000).

Liverpool (35.4%) have become the first side to win the Champions League final despite having less possession than the opposition since Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich in 2010.

This was the first ever Champions League final without a single card shown.

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah became the fifth African player to score in a European Cup final after Rabah Madjer, Samuel Eto'o, Didier Drogba and Sadio Mane.

Salah's opener for Liverpool was the second fastest goal in a Champions League final (1:48 ), only behind Paolo Maldini (00:50) for AC Milan versus Liverpool in 2005.

Origi became only the second Belgian player to score in a Champions League final after Yannick Carrasco for Atletico against Real Madrid in 2016. Origi has scored with all three of his shots in the CL this season.

Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold (20 years 237 days) is the first ever player aged under 21 to start in consecutive Champions League finals."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48368443


And from Opta Sports:

"No opposition player has completed a dribble past Virgil van Dijk in any of his last 64 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool."

"Harry Kane had just 11 touches during the first half of the Champions League final; fewer than any other Tottenham player. Phantom."

[Jezza]

Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Liverpool

Goals:
Liverpool - 2' (Salah) - PENALTY
Liverpool - 87' (Origi)

[Jezza]

Champions League Tally:

Real Madrid = (1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018) = 13
AC Milan = (1963, 1969, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2003, 2007) = 7
Liverpool = (1977, 1978, 1981, 1984, 2005, 2019) = 6
Bayern Munich = (1974, 1975, 1976, 2001, 2013) = 5
Barcelona = (1992, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2015) = 5
Ajax = (1971, 1972, 1973, 1995) = 4
Manchester United = (1968, 1999, 2008) = 3
Inter Milan = (1964, 1965, 2010) = 3
Benfica = (1961, 1962) = 2
Nottingham Forest = (1979, 1980) = 2
Juventus = (1985, 1996) = 2
FC Porto = (1987, 2004) = 2
Celtic = (1967) = 1
Feyenoord = (1970) = 1
Aston Villa = (1982) = 1
Hamburg = (1983) = 1
Steaua Bucharest = (1986) = 1
PSV Eindhoven = (1988) = 1
Red Star Belgrade = (1991) = 1
Marseille = (1993) = 1
Borussia Dortmund = (1997) = 1
Chelsea = (2012) = 1

[K]

C. Bascombe, Telegraph, London:

"Although Klopp’s deal has three years to run, owners FSG will seek to prolong their relationship with the manager they consider the best in the world - and certainly the most suited to the Merseyside club.

Alongside Pep Guardiola, the German coach is the most wanted in world soccer.

No vacancy at an elite club can arise without representatives tentatively sounding him out, several having been rebuffed already during his Liverpool reign. Bayern Munich, Juventus, Barcelona and even Real Madrid would recruit Klopp in a heartbeat given the chance, yet he has never offered a hint of encouragement as he pushes on with the Liverpool renaissance.

Now FSG believe the manager has found the club where he has the freedom, power and resources to compete for the biggest honours as much as Liverpool’s competitors.
...

Klopp has been a transformative presence since his arrival in 2015, players, directors and supporters lining up to thank and pay tribute to his skills. So sure of Klopp’s credentials were FSG a year into his reign, they awarded him a six-year deal in 2016.
...

The vast majority of the budget for first-team matters has been allocated on contract renewals, well over £100 million spent to keep Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, among others. Virgil van Dijk can expect to be added to that list, his value soaring even after becoming the world’s most expensive defender in January 2018."

[K]

Eric Cantona's speech makes everyone go :

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/ ... 52mn6.html

[K]

"Liverpool opened their Champions League title defence with a 2-0 loss at Napoli ..."