MADRID — Liverpool won its sixth Champions League title on Saturday, using an early penalty kick by Mohamed Salah and a late goal by the substitute Divock Origi to beat Tottenham, 2-0, in a matchup of Premier League rivals in Madrid.
Liverpool’s title came one year after it lost the final to Real Madrid, and soothed the disappointment of that bitter defeat.
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Its fans were celebrating almost from the opening whistle: Less than 30 seconds later, Liverpool had won a penalty — on a handball in the area by Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko. The call, while harsh, was correct, and Salah stepped up to bury the penalty kick beyond Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
The game was a tepid affair from there, but Origi started the celebrations in earnest when he collected the ball after a failed attack by Liverpool and, turning in the area, fired a shot around Lloris and inside the far post.
“It’s unbelievable,” Origi said. “Winning the Champions League is so hard.
“It’s my first trophy and we’re going to celebrate all together.”
That set the Liverpool fans off into a lusty version of “Allez Allez Allez,” the converted Italian disco hit that has been their soundtrack for a year. It was a welcome release for these fans, some of whom had watched their team fall to Real Madrid in last season’s final in Kiev.
When the final whistle blew this time, and the players and coaching staff poured onto the field, the supporters shifted to another standard, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” that they have sung since the club’s glory days in the 1970s and ’80s.
Liverpool last won the Champions League in 2005, adding it to European Cups claimed in 1977, ’78, ’81 and ’84.
Tottenham was playing in the final for the first time, and fought gamely after it was stunned by the early penalty. The Korean striker Son Heung-min had some of his team’s most dangerous chances. Harry Kane, the star English striker, returned to the Spurs lineup for the first time since April 9, but the layoff and the steamy Madrid night seemed to render him ineffective.
Follow the game as it happened:
FULL TIME: Liverpool are champions again!
Pandemonium on the field, and joy after last season’s disappointment.
90’ +2 It’s just a formality now
Liverpool fans sing “Allez Allez Allez,” the Italian disco hit they modified for last season’s run to the final. They lost that day to Real Madrid, but this time the singing will continue long into the night here.
87’ ORIGI SCORES! That’ll do it! Liverpool, 2-0!
Everyone got lulled to sleep again and Origi banged in the clincher.
He’s got the knack for late drama, and this time he collected a ball after an attack had seemed to falter, controlled it and fired a left-footed shot around Lloris and inside the left post.
Liverpool 2, Tottenham 0. It’s all over but the singing now.
85’ SAVE by Alisson on Ericksen’s shot
He dives left to parry away Ericksen’s curler, a terrific save for a terrific shot.
The corner looks dangerous ... until Liverpool’s back line pulls up and leaves Son and others well offside. Danger averted.
83’ VAR check after a challenge on the edge of the area!
Rose came for a ball and fell theatrically after Milner challenged for the ball. But the referee has not been swayed, and neither has the replay official. The foul was outside the area.
Ericksen will take the free kick, just outside the corner on the left .....
82’ Final sub for Spurs: Llorente for Dele Alli
Sort of a like for like there, in that both are attackers. Except that Dele is better. But Llorente is at least fresh, and in this heat, Tottenham could use that for the final 10 minutes. Nothing to lose now.
80’ Alisson comes up big — twice
That’s why they spent all that money to buy the big Brazilian goalkeeper from Roma: He stopped Son, who just keeps getting free for shots, and then a second attempt by Lucas Moura.
Fernando Llorente up for Spurs ...
76’ Spurs pressing, van Dijk clearing
First the Dutch defender chases down Son and breaks up a shot at the last moment, then he clears a cross by Kane that could have been trouble. Liverpool spent a ton of money on van Dijk (and Alisson, the goalkeeper behind him), and these final 20 minutes can make it all worth it.
74’ A second Tottenham sub: Dier for Sissoko
The little-used (at least lately) Dier comes on for Sissoko, who provided the pivotal moment of this match with his handball before he’d even broken a sweat in the first half. The night will be a disappointment for him, that one (monumental) error overshadowing a solid job well done.
71’ Trippier creates some danger
Tottenham pings one cross, then another, across the full width of the Liverpool penalty area, but each sails through cleanly — and untouched. Trippier gets a third, but Liverpool clears that one and breaks out.
Only a late-arriving Tottenham foot at the other end thwarts the counterattack.
69’ Milner goes soooo close!
A probing, dangerous run by Mané ends with the ball set on a tee for Milner, and he rips it ... just wide of Lloris’s near post. You could hear the “ooooooohs” from here.
66’ Pochettino’s turns to make a move: Lucas Moura for Winks
The hero of Amsterdam comes on, and they’ll need the same kind of late magic tonight. Winks did his job. Tottenham just doesn’t need that job done right now.
Lucas Moura offers the prospect of goals, or at least enough of a threat of them that Ericksen and Son and Kane and Dele Alli may get a little more room to work.
62’ Another sub for Liverpool: Milner for Wijnaldum
That’s Klopp opting for leadership and experience over the potential for Wijnaldum to do something flashy. He needs more of the former now, not the latter.
58’ Our first sub is Origi for Firmino
That may have been planned — Firmino has been out with a groin injury — but it also could be a reflection of the fact that Firmino has been a ghost today.
Origi, a young Belgian striker, has a knack for opportunistic goals. And late goals. But he’s also an imposing physical presence in ways that the smaller Sané and Salah are not.
Oh, and James Milner is getting instructions, so expect him to come on next.
55’ Danny Rose is writhing in the corner
He was clearly fouled by Alexander-Arnold as he cut back in on the left wing, but there’s no call. So he stays down to make the referee come over and check on him. “No call? O.K., then let’s see you do some running, buddy.”
54’ Much better from Robertson on a cross
That’s better. Liverpool strokes the ball around the outside as Spurs collapses into its area, and Robertson’s teasing cross is nearly met by Mané. But Lloris smothers the trouble, and Spurs break out looking for Kane almost immediately.
53’ Fabinho shoots from 25 yards, and we all wonder: Why?
That’s not really what Klopp wants to see.
49’ An appeal by Vertonghen for handball
Vertonghen fires a shot after a free kick but has two problems with his appeal for handball: 1. It hit the Liverpool defender in the backside, and 2. Tottenham was offside on the initial free kick.
46’ No changes for either team at halftime
No subs for either side, but remember: It’s a hot night, so expect some sooner rather than later.
What to expect in the second half
If there is a note of optimism to be struck after that cautious, sloppy, largely forgettable 45 minutes, it is that, for most of this season, the Champions League’s drama has come late. It likes to build to its climaxes. Spurs will have to pour forward; Liverpool will be asked more questions; there will be space on the counter. It could yet turn into a fitting final for the season that it concludes.
Whether it is may rest on whether this game follows the pattern of most meetings between these teams: At some point, Mauricio Pochettino will change his approach; the challenge for Jürgen Klopp is to see it, and adapt to it, as quickly as possible. If not — as happened at Anfield only a couple of months ago — then Spurs may seize control.
The complicating factor is that, well, Spurs may think it already is in control. That first 25 seconds aside, Spurs has looked by far the more accomplished in possession. True, thus far it has only created a couple of half-glimpses of goal: Christian Eriksen had the best of them, right at the end of the first half. But Pochettino will have seen enough to think that, with a little more precision, his approach could yet bear fruit. If not, expect him to go more direct, perhaps through the introduction of Lucas Moura, who has the pace to trouble Liverpool in myriad ways.
As for Liverpool: It is worth noting that both of these teams are subject to stereotypes that are a little outdated. Spurs does not press quite as hard as it did a couple of years ago; Pochettino has refined his approach a little more. Liverpool has a reputation for adventure, for swash and buckle, but those performances have been much rarer this year. For the most part, it has built its season on defensive resilience, on game management. This will be a test of how well it has learned those lessons.
Halftime: Liverpool 1, Tottenham 0
For a match that started with a shocking penalty after only 30 seconds, there weren’t a ton of chances. Harry Kane, back in the Spurs team for the first time in 53 days, has had little service and even less impact on the game. (The same could be said for Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino, who is actually playing in this game if you’ve forgotten about him.)
Liverpool grabbed that early lead, but it has been a little sloppy at times. A lead is a lead, though, and better to have one than not.
The good news for Spurs is that Kane doesn’t need a lot of chances. He’s the kind of player who can get only one and bury it.
44’ Now it’s Spurs getting forward, but Dele misfires
He tried to lead Son in on Alisson, but his touch was too heavy, and the chance vanished. One has to think both teams just want to get a drink and break and a rethink now.
And remember this paragraph from Rory’s “Why Tottenham will win” piece today:
Spurs and Liverpool’s meetings tend to share a pattern. At some point, Pochettino will tweak something, do something unexpected, and as a rule, Liverpool will struggle to react.
Halftime definitely will be a good time for another one of those tweaks.
42’ Another Liverpool corner, another test for Lloris
Liverpool is leaning on Spurs a bit more now. Tottenham clears the first but only gives up another.
Salah wastes it by hitting the first man.
38’ A chance for Robertson out of nothing
Joel Matip springs Robertson down the left with a quick-thinking pass and Robertson, driving forward and seeing no options, rockets a shot from outside the area. Lloris tips it over, though, and Spurs clear the corner.
But now Vertonghen is down; he injured his left elbow in the jostling inside there. Doesn’t look terribly hurt. Maybe just a ding on the funny bone?
26’ Half-chances and a few corners as the game steadies
Both teams have calmed down, but Tottenham, to its credit, has looked a bit dangerous at times through Son’s runs and Eriksen’s work in tight spaces. One can only hope a first-minute penalty doesn’t decide this.
18’ A pitch invader stops the match
In an age of security and terror fears, it’s really stunning that this continues to happen at major sporting events. This time the fan got all the way into the center circle.
12’ The heat may be slowing everyone down
The penalty got the match off to a rollicking start and had the Liverpool fans singing at full voice, but everyone seems to have dialed things back now, perhaps aware that a frantic pace is probably not wise on this sweltering night.
6’ Tottenham in regrouping mode now
The game could not have started worse for Pochettino and Spurs: All that work, all that planning, to give up a penalty after 30 seconds. They’ll be looking for some position now, to get their footing and get back into this.
2’ GOAL! 1-0 to Liverpool in Madrid!
Mo Salah buries the penalty past Lloris, who had no chance.
The penalty was a handball on Sissoko, who inexplicably had his right arm out on a Mané cross. What a disastrous start for Spurs.
Rory Smith: I wish I had some strong opinion on whether that was a penalty or not, but to be honest the rules now seem to vary so much between the Premier League and UEFA competitions, and the definitions are so sketchy and subjective, I’m honestly not sure. I can understand why Spurs are baffled, I can understand why Damir Skomina, the referee, gave it. It would be unsatisfactory, though, if that proved decisive.
1’ PENALTY!! What a start!
The referee, Damir Skovina of Slovenia, whistles a penalty against Tottenham after less than 30 seconds!!!
First, a moment of remembrance
The teams are on the field and are holding a moment of remembrance for the Spain and Arsenal player Jose Antonio Reyes, who died in a car accident today. As is customary, it is applause, not silence.
A full house on a sweltering day
Rory checks in from the Wanda Metropolitano:
The scale of the Champions League final seems to grow every year: Strange as it is to say, it isn’t that long since this game was not always necessarily a sellout. Now it takes over an entire city: Madrid has been awash with Liverpool and Spurs fans since Wednesday; roads have been closed and hotels requisitioned and sun-bleached plazas staked out.
In fact, it’s not just the fans of the two clubs. One of the best things about the Champions League final is the vast assortment of fans who travel just to be here: You see Argentine and Brazilian club jerseys — there must be dozens of Flamengo fans here — and always, always a contingent of fans, clad in emerald green, representing Mexico. Then there are the vanquished and the disappointed: the fans of those clubs who thought they might make it and never did. Normally that means Bayern Munich, but this year there are a number of Ajax fans, here to sample the occasion, and possibly to sell their tickets.
It feels as if Liverpool is, perhaps, better represented — both in the stadium and in the city as a whole — but the difference in noise is likely to be marginal. One bank of the Estadio Metropolitano has been given over entirely to Tottenham, another to Liverpool. Neither team will be short of support.
Spurs fans would have been cheered to see Harry Kane (and, less headline-grabbing but almost as significant, Harry Winks) in Mauricio Pochettino’s team. That was the only really difficult selection decision either manager had to make: whether Kane, who has not played for almost two months, could be drafted straight into action. Clearly, the idea of leaving him out was unimaginable for Pochettino. It is unfortunate that Lucas Moura, the player whose goals against Ajax brought Spurs here, misses out, but this feels like Tottenham’s strongest team.
Now that we have an answer to the first Kane dilemma, the question shifts to how long he can last, particularly in the sweltering heat. It has been blistering in Madrid today, and it will be hot, and close, on the field. That will be a challenge for everyone, not only Kane.
Liverpool Starting Lineup
Liverpool’s lineup (4-3-3) is out: Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum; Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané
Substitutes: Mignolet, Lovren, Milner, Gomez, Sturridge, Moreno, Lallana, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaqiri, Brewster, Origi, Kelleher.
Analysis: No surprises here. Firmino had been dealing with a groin problem but Klopp declared him fit and ready to go this week.
Tottenham Starting Lineup
Tottenham’s lineup (4-2-3-1) is out: Hugo Lloris; Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose; Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko; Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min; Harry Kane
Substitutes: Gazzaniga, Vorm, Sanchez, Foyth, Davies, Aurier, Dier, Walker-Peters, Wanyama, Lucas, Lamela, Llorente
Analysis: Kane has not played since April 9, and Pochettino was coy about his inclusion right up until Friday’s prematch news conference, when he said, “We have one training session and then we are ready to decide.” But no one really expected Kane to miss this one.
Why Liverpool will win
Rory Smith makes the case for the Reds:
Jürgen Klopp does not feel cursed. He does not, as he made plain during his Friday evening news media call in Madrid, even feel unlucky. He might have lost every final he has reached with Liverpool, and six of the seven he has contested over all, but he does not see that as a harbinger.
The reason for that, put simply, is that this is the possibly the first time — and certainly the first time with Liverpool — that he has gone into a final in charge of the favorite. The bald fact of the Premier League table illustrates that Liverpool has been significantly more consistent than Tottenham this season: Klopp’s team eventually finished 26 points ahead of Spurs.
Throw in that Liverpool had England’s best defense and two of its three top scorers, and then add that it went through the pomp, circumstance and attendant emotional sweep of a Champions League final 12 months ago, and Liverpool’s quiet, unassuming confidence is understandable.
For Klopp, unlike his Spurs counterpart, Mauricio Pochettino, there are no selection dilemmas or tactical alternatives: He, his players and his opponents all know how Liverpool will try to play. Klopp rarely changes; he is not the sort of manager to try to spring a surprise.
This season, he has not needed to. For the most part, what Liverpool does works: Even Barcelona, even with a 3-0 lead, even with Lionel Messi, could not resist. Klopp will feel that if his players do not freeze, if there are no individual mistakes or moments of inspiration from Tottenham, Liverpool is strong enough to overcome Spurs, and finally see off even the mention of a curse.
Why Tottenham will win
Rory Smith makes the case for Spurs:
It is the nature of a single, winner-takes-all game that every advantage can, in a different light, start to look like a disadvantage. Mauricio Pochettino and Spurs do have choices to make: Do they play with a three-man defense or a four-man back line? Does Harry Kane start, or is he best used from the bench? If he does, who joins him? From one angle, it looks like uncertainty; from another, it looks like unpredictability
Though Klopp’s record against Pochettino is good — one defeat in nine games — Spurs and Liverpool’s meetings tend to share a pattern. At some point, Pochettino will tweak something, do something unexpected, and as a rule, Liverpool will struggle to react. That happened, certainly, in the last encounter, which Liverpool won by 2-1, but only thanks to a Hugo Lloris mistake and a Moussa Sissoko miss. Spurs dominated for long stretches at Anfield. That will give Pochettino’s team hope.
Not that hope is in short supply. There is a weightlessness about Spurs, thanks, in part, to the chaos and wonder of the team’s run to its first European final in 35 years — the comeback in Amsterdam, the heart-stopping drama of the quarterfinal with Manchester City, even the fact that, after only three group games, the team seemed likely to be eliminated. By meeting every challenge, by surviving every scare, Tottenham has cultivated an air of invincibility. Destiny, Pochettino might call it.
Partly, though, it is because Spurs is not expected to be here. Liverpool has the pressure of its failure in the league and its defeat in Kiev; Spurs has only the opportunity to become the least likely champion of Europe since — probably — Liverpool in 2005. Over a season, it has been unable to compete. Over 90 minutes, there is little between the two teams. Spurs only needs a little luck, a little belief, a little something. It has had that in spades in this tournament so far.
Will the three-week layoff since the end of the Premier League season affect the teams?
Rory went to Spain’s Costa del Sol — yes, tough duty, but he was surprisingly amenable to the request; go figure — to find out. Here’s a little of what he discovered:
“Some Liverpool players found it was in the evening when their minds tended to wander. It was then, once the children were in bed or training was done, that their thoughts would drift to the Champions League: back to Kiev, forward to Madrid, lingering on what might have been, and what could yet be.
Others were caught when they were most vulnerable: as they went to sleep, or as they woke up, those moments either side of consciousness, when you cannot help yourself. For them, as one member of Jürgen Klopp’s squad puts it, Saturday’s final against Tottenham has been ‘the last thing you think about at night and the first thing you think about in the morning.’”
Read his full piece here.
Would Tottenham’s Son Heung-min be a bigger star if he wasn’t Korean?
It’s an interesting question, and Rory explored the idea a bit the other day. For years, clubs looked to Asia for players who could move shirts, attract sponsors or offer valuable, high-workrate minutes. But stereotypes about Asian players sell many of them — and Son especially — short.
“It was not until this season — and, in reality, until those few weeks recently when he went supernova — that England, and Europe, started to afford Son the star treatment: the forward whose absence is worth fretting about, the player who might lead his team to the Champions League title, the subject of countless long-form profiles in half a dozen languages. A few days before the game against Liverpool in which he might cement his place as a global superstar, it is worth asking why.”
The elephant in the room: a great coach will lose
Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp and Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino are both respected coaches with résumés that would be the envy of most managers. But neither has won a piece of European silverware — Klopp has lost twice in the Champions League final, and Pochettino has never lifted a trophy of any kind since becoming a head coach — and so their legacies have been a topic of discussion since the final’s matchup was set.
The good news is that one will shed that label of great-coach-who-couldn’t-win-trophies on Saturday. The bad news is that, for the other man, the stigma will continue. But Pochettino pointed out, correctly, on Friday that the result of any single match — even a big one for which a coach and his staff have had three weeks to prepare — isn’t always in the manager’s control.
“People talk about lost finals,” Pochettino said Friday. “The most difficult thing is arriving in finals. And when you arrive, there is a lot of things you can’t control.”
An all-Premier League final for an era of big clubs
The idea of the European Cup, when it was created in 1955, was to bring together soccer champions from across the continent to decide which country truly had the best team. Was Real Madrid better than A.C. Milan? Could Manchester United beat Benfica? Could Ajax beat Juventus?
But lately the same small clique of big clubs has tended to dominate:
Victor Mather of The Times explored the evolution of the tournament once this year’s final was set, and Tariq Panja has chronicled efforts to make that a feature, not a bug.
Liverpool vs. Tottenham: top story lines
Liverpool, which lost to Real Madrid in last year’s final, is seeking its sixth Champions League title. It last won the trophy in 2005, adding it to titles claimed in 1977, ’78, ’81 and ’84. (The games were less commercial but absolutely no less festive back then.) Liverpool has also lost three European Cup finals, in 1985, 2007 and last year’s in Kiev against Real Madrid.
Tottenham is playing in the Champions League final for the first time. Its most recent European trophy was the 1984 UEFA Cup, won when it beat Anderlecht.
This is the first all-Premier League final since Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in Moscow in 2008.
That matchup was more than a decade ago, but single-country finals are no longer rare: The Spanish city rivals Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid have met in two recent finals (2014 and 2016), and Liverpool’s manager, Jürgen Klopp, was the coach at Dortmund when it fell to Bayern Munich in the 2013 final at Wembley.
This is the fifth Champions League final in Madrid but the first at Atlético’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium, which opened in 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/01/sports/liverpool-tottenham-champions-league.html
2019-06-01 21:00:00Z
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