Tottenham vs Liverpool: An all-English showdown in Spain’s capital

It’s the latest installment of the Champions League final, and it’s the seventh time that two teams from the same nation will be locking horns as Tottenham prepare to face Liverpool. The last time we saw this was an all-Madrid affair in Milan, which Real Madrid prevailed on spot kicks. Prior to that, it was again the Spaniards dominating in 2014 when the same Real and Atletico Madrid clashed in Lisbon, and in 2013, fans were treated to an all-German spectacle as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1.

For Tottenham, it has been hardly smooth sailing to their first ever Champions League final. Mauricio Pochettino’s men had a less-than inauspicious beginning in their group stage campaign. Harry Kane and his colleagues were put in a tricky group, along with Lionel Messi’s Barcelona and ambitious Inter for company, and ended up losing both games to the Blaugrana and the Nerazzurri before struggling to a 2-2 draw against Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.

However, they quickly turned things around, securing hard-fought wins over the same PSV and beat Inter 1-0 to claw their way back into qualification contention, before picking up a deserved one-all stalemate against Barcelona at Camp Nou on matchday six.

Borussia Dortmund presented little opposition as Tottenham brushed them aside with little fuss, before they were pitted against Manchester City in one of the most entertaining quarter-final clashes fans have seen in a while. Despite Pep Guardiola’s men winning the second leg in a seven goal thriller, Tottenham’s narrow 1-0 victory from the first leg was enough to see them through on away goals.

Still, it nearly all went up in smoke as upstarts Ajax almost spoiled Tottenham’s dreams of making it to their first ever Champions League final. The Dutch outfit have been the tournament’s dark horses, knocking out reigning champions Real Madrid and a Juventus side led by Cristiano Ronaldo. However a brilliant Lucas Moura hat-trick dumped them out after they thought they were already through after going 2-0 up and 1-0 in the first leg, and now they will face Liverpool, who had to settle for a runners-up medal in the Premier League.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have been outstanding all season, and are in the Champions League final for the second straight year. They lost last term unfortunately after losing Mohamed Salah in a rather unfair tackle that really should have seen Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos sent off, and now Salah will have a chance to feature once again in club football’s biggest match – whilst Ramos, ironically, will be watching from his couch somewhere in Madrid.

After narrowly missing out on the Premier League title despite racking up 97 – yes, 97! points – to finish one point behind Manchester City, Klopp’s troops will be seeking to get their hands on the Champions League trophy. Liverpool impressively lost just once in the league all season, compared to Manchester City’s four, but it shockingly wasn’t enough to wrench the title away from Pep Guardiola’s side.

However, they’re now focused on winning an even bigger prize: the Champions League. Like Tottenham, they had a tricky group, and finished second behind PSG after winning three and losing three of their group stage games. The lowest point of their campaign was certainly losing 2-0 in an embarrassing defeat to Serbian outfit Red Star after cruising to a 4-0 victory over the same side just weeks prior, but nonetheless, they pipped Napoli to second to set up a round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich.

The Reds showed no fear against the Bavarian titans, who have been hardly impressive in European competition over the past five years, and easily moved past them after beating them 3-1 on aggregate. Arguably, their most impressive showing was how they reacted after they seemed out of the tournament following a 3-0 defeat to Barcelona.

The Spanish side’s arrogance – if you can call it that – came back to haunt them yet again, though. Obviously, they haven’t learned from their debacle against Roma from last season, when they picked up a 4-1 win from the first leg, only to lose 3-0 in the second leg and be dumped out. Liverpool, meanwhile, are a far better side than the Giallorossi, so it’s quite surprising that Ernesto Valverde didn’t tweak his game plan for the trip to Anfield, as Barcelona were easily over-run as they slumped to a humiliating 4-0 loss.

Lionel Messi, who dominated in the first leg at Camp Nou, was reduced to a mere passenger as he was helpless to prevent his side from being crushed, and in fact, it could have been much worse than a 4-0 result if Liverpool had converted more of their chances.

So, for the first time in several seasons, there are no Spanish sides in the Champions League final. This hasn’t happened since 2013, and with Chelsea having won the Europa League in another all-English affair earlier this week, it means that the European Super Cup will also be an all-English showdown later this year. It’s a great advert for the Premier League, who has had to watch La Liga dominate as of late.

Who will win this all-English affair in Spain’s capital? For Tottenham, it could be their chance to make history. For Liverpool, it’s their chance to cap off what’s been a fine season. Either way, it’s set to be historic, as it will be the first Champions League trophy for Pochettino or Klopp.