As we approach the Champions League Final on Saturday evening, we’re full of excitement for the second all-English final within the same week. Liverpool face Tottenham in what’s building up to be an incredibly exciting affair.
Both teams have fought long and hard to come this far, with both teams pulling off unbelievable comebacks to reach the final. Will Jürgen Klopp finally win a major cup final or will Pochettino steal it from his grasp?
Liverpool
After the first leg of the semi-final, Liverpool were beaten 3-0 in a devastating defeat at the hands of a masterclass from Lionel Messi. With the return leg at Anfield, Liverpool knew they had to pull off a miracle to gain any hope of reaching the final. Following an early goal from Origi, Liverpool knew they had a chance to pull back the deficit. The second half began with a Georginio Wijnaldum brace, Barcelona were beginning to panic as Liverpool pulled things level. They couldn’t do it, could they?
Time began to run out, with Liverpool needing one more goal to secure the victory in normal time. Then it happened, an innovative early cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold caught the Barcelona’s defence off guard and Origi was there to take advantage, 4-0!
This incredible comeback was not only a victory for the players, it was a win for the entire city of Liverpool. Then something truly magical happened, as the players began to approach the Kop End in celebration, the fans and players all began to sing the most famous song in world football.
The bond between fan and player couldn’t have been stronger that night, I guess you could say…
You’ll never walk alone.
Tottenham
Following a fantastic match in Liverpool the previous evening, the Tottenham game became a second thought. Spurs faced an Ajax side that had beaten them the previous week, earning a crucial away goal in the process. Nonetheless, Mauricio’s men travelled to the Netherlands, hoping they could replicate the efforts of their English counterparts. Boy did they deliver.
It wasn’t easy, wonder kid Matthijs de Ligt scored an early header to make it 2-0 on aggregate before Hakim Zayech seemingly put the nail in the coffin with a wonder strike to make it 3-0 overall. The task soon became (almost) impossible…
The second half got underway and the impossible began to happen, Lucas Moura’s driving run into the box led to a scruffy finish to open proceedings. His creative efforts then led to a lovely finish to make it two. Tottenham needed one more goal before they could celebrate, but time wasn’t on their side.
After hitting the woodwork and multiple near misses, it looked like the dream comeback wasn’t going to happen. Time had all but ran out and Ajax were fighting with everything they had. With 10 seconds left, Tottenham managed to create one more chance, forcing the referee to let time go on. And there it was, a creative pass from Dele Alli lead to Lucas Moura securing the game with a semi-final hat-trick. They’d done it!
With the two of greatest football comebacks occurring with 48 hours, it looks like we’re in for a treat on Saturday night. Who will reign victorious?
Although the excitement of the Champions League final is keeping everyone’s football obsession at bay, we’ll soon have no football to look forward to as the club season finishes with Saturday’s mega-match.
Quiz time
To finish a great season, we thought the perfect way to celebrate would be one last football quiz. After last week’s victory for Andrew, we felt it was only fair for him to return for one final showdown of the football season. His opponent this time around is our Finance Assistant, Joe.
Let’s see how they coped with an extremely testing round of European football questions.
- In total, how many one-country Champions League finals have there been, including this year’s clash between Liverpool and Tottenham?
- Where is this year’s final taking place?
- Name two players to score a brace in previous Champions League finals
- Who is the only player to lift the European trophy with three clubs?
- Can you name the three managers who have successfully lifted the European cup on three separate occasions (1 point for each)?
- Name three players to score in more than one Champions League final (one point for each)
- Who lifted the trophy in the 2009/2010 season?
- Name the three English clubs who have won the trophy since 2000
- Name at least one coach who has won the Champions League with two clubs (bonus points for each answer)
- Name at least one coach who has won the Champions League as both coach and player (bonus points for each answer)
With a possible 24 points on offer, it was up to the boys to test their knowledge with this difficult round of questions. After both parties spent considerable time with their answers, the results were in. Incredibly, both Joe and Andrew scored 10 points each! This meant a deadlock question was necessary to declare a clear winner (nearly as exciting as the semi-finals, don’t you think?)
The tie breaker was simple, could Andrew and Joe answer this brain-teaser?
I’ve scored in many champions league finals but I did miss a penalty that one time, I’ve scored for three different clubs in the competition but played for four, I’ve worn the number 9, number 7 and number 28 shirt during my 17 year period playing in the competition, who am I?
Answer: Cristiano Ronaldo
Winner: Andrew Rose
With a 10 minute time limit to answer the question, Andrew answered correctly. Unfortunately, Joe took a risk with Nicolas Anelka which didn’t pay off. Therefore, for the second week running, Andrew is the champion! Will anybody be able to stop him in our weekly quiz next season?