All Mauricio Pochettino’s planning went awry after just 22 seconds. Liverpool took full advantageA tremendous madness: Mauricio Pochettino’s soundbite to describe Tottenham’s passage to their first Champions League final was a decent attempt to sum it all up. There were the late goals that kept them alive in the second half of the group-phase campaign, not to mention the one from Lucas Moura that crowned the epic comeback in the semi-final at Ajax. And what about the VAR craziness in the quarter-final at Manchester City?The well ran dry against a Liverpool team that showed control and a streetwise edge and it felt as though Pochettino’s comment could be best applied to the moment that shaped the match after 22 seconds....
Champions League final’s star forwards have countless goals between them – but no major trophies. In Madrid one will shed the nearly-man tagHanging on to a rising balloon presents you with a difficult decision: let go before it’s too late, or hold on and keep getting higher. When Harry Kane injured his ankle in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City, Tottenham’s chances of ending their season in Madrid on Saturday night seemed to have narrowed to a fine point.Kane has of course been the razor edge and all-round attacking totem of Mauricio Pochettino’s team, with an entire system set up to funnel and shift around him. Yet fast forward two months and in his absence...
The relentless pressure to win the ball high up the pitch gives Jürgen Klopp’s engine room a different kind of creativityWhat a Champions League final we have in store. I am in Madrid and visited the Wanda Metropolitano day and there was already an anticipatory buzz around the stadium, so the atmosphere should be wonderful . I am lucky enough to have secured a ticket through the Uefa Masters course I’m doing and I’m expecting the match between two fantastic English teams to be as vibrant as the atmosphere. With the attacking style of both teams it promises to be spectacular. Whichever team wins will have provided the perfect finish to an amazing story.Which team will that be? That is...
Liverpool and Spurs rely on the role to wreak havoc in attack and Saturday’s game will show how the position has evolvedIt is quarter of a century since Jack Charlton observed after the 1994 World Cup that full-back had become tactically the most important position in football, and with each passing year his words have come to seem increasingly true. It is entirely possible – likely, even – that Saturday’s Champions League final could be decided by the performance of the respective pairs of full-backs, something that would have seemed absurd even a couple of decades ago. Related: Why I gave away my Champions League final ticket to watch it with dad | Max Rushden Related: Sadio Mané happy at...
I will be in Madrid on the morning of Spurs v Liverpool but will see the all-English European Cup final at home on my sofaOn Saturday I will wake up in Madrid. A few hours later when Spurs walk out to play Liverpool in the Champions League final in the Spanish capital, I will be in my living room watching the game on TV, possibly the only football fan getting on a plane back to England from Spain that day.I’ve had a ticket for months – not deserved, it’s who you know – but I don’t need to be there. I need to watch Tottenham’s first ever European Cup final with my dad. Related: ‘You wake at 4am’: Son Heung-min...