Liverpool and Spurs managed unbelievable comebacks this week in the Champions League semi-finals meaning the two sides will meet in Madrid on June 1st!
With Liverpool and Spurs both progressing to the Champions League final it means we’re going to have only the second ever all English final. The first was in 2008 when Man United beat Chelsea on penalties. This is going to be the ninth final Liverpool have got to. Their last was last year where they lost to Real Madrid 3-1. Liverpool have won the competition five times and will be hopeful of adding a sixth.
For Spurs, this is going to be the first time they have ever reached a Champions League final. The furthest they have got before this is the semi-finals. The two sides have met in Europe before, back in 1973. They drew each other in the UEFA Cup, with Liverpool winning 1-0 at home and Spurs winning 2-1 at home.
This years final is being held in Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, home of Atletico Madrid. The stadium holds 68,000 and boths have been allocated just 16,163 tickets each. That’s just 24% of the stadium each, meaning UEFA have kept the remaining 52% of tickets for themselves!
Both teams had to work hard to get into this years final. They’ve beaten the biggest teams in Europe including Man City, Barcelona and Bayern Munich!
Liverpool’s run to the final
Liverpool started the campaign in a very tough group. This included PSG, Napoli and Crvena Zvezda. Their results in the group stages were mixed, they won all their homes games and lost all their away games. They finished on nine points level with Napoli. Both sides beat each other and both had the same goal difference. This meant it went down to who scored the most goals, which was Liverpool with nine.
A lot of this was down to some huge moments at Anfield. Firmino scored a last minute goal against PSG to get them a 3-2 win. This ensured they got three points instead of one. Again another huge Anfield moment but at the other end of the pitch. They played Napoli, Milik was through on goal and Alisson made a great save from only four yards out to ensure they won 1-0.
They took on Bayern in the Round of 16. The first leg was 0-0 at home but Liverpool went away and turned over the German giants. They beat them 3-1 and went on to face Porto in the quarterfinals. Liverpool were drawn at home again first leg and beat Porto 2-0. They then went away and won convincingly once more beating Porto 4-1, 6-1 on aggregate.
This set up a semi-final against Barcelona, their biggest challenge yet. Liverpool were away to Barcelona first leg this time, where an away goal would be vital. Liverpool were much the better side in the first leg but missed many big chances. Barca weren’t as wasteful and somehow managed to come away with a 3-0 win, which included a 30 yard Messi freekick. The English side had it all to at Anfield and the odds were highly stacked against them. But, again another huge night at Anfield. Somehow Klopp’s side managed to score 4-0 and not concede any, beating Barca 4-3 on aggregate for what is arguably the greatest ever Champions League comeback.
Spurs run to the final
Spurs were put in arguably a tougher group than Liverpool. They had to play Barca, Inter and PSV. Spurs got off to an awful start, they lost their first two games and then drew the third. This meant they had one point out of a possible nine. They then went on a fantastic run winning the next two and draw to Barcelona in the last game to finish on level points with Inter. Like Liverpool, they had to progress through on scoring more goals than Inter with nine also.
Spurs left it very late to get out of the group stages. It took the final three games to get through. Against PSV Kane score in the 78th and 89th minute to win. Eriksen got the only goal of the game against Inter, scoring in the 80th minute. Their final game against Barca, Lucas came to the rescue with an 85th-minute equaliser.
This meant they went on to play Dortmund in the Round of 16. The first leg went perfectly for Spurs. They beat Dortmund 3-0 at home meaning one goal away would pretty much finish the tie. That’s exactly what they did, they went and won 1-0 and face Man City in the quarterfinals. They beat City 1-0 in the first leg and lost 4-3 in the second but went through on away goals. That was a ridiculous game which saw five goals in the first 20 minutes and a last-minute City goal disallowed.
Spurs then went on to face Ajax in the semi-finals, a team who had already beaten Juve and Real Madrid. Ajax won the first leg at Spurs, 1-0 meaning Spurs had to go to Ajax and get a result. The hosts took a 2-0 first-half lead and it felt like this was Spurs’ last game. But a Lucas Moura masterclass saw him score a hat-trick in the second half, with the third goal coming in the last minute of the game.
The Final
The game in Madrid is surely going to be an exciting one considering how both sides have got to the final. Liverpool go into it the favourites. They have already beaten Spurs twice this year, 2-1 both home and away. They also have the experience of last years final, even though they got beat. Liverpool are 1/2 to win the Champions League final on Bet365, with Spurs priced at 6/4.
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