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Dramatic Champions League: Liverpool, Spurs make it all-English final

 

Football aficionados on Tuesday and Wednesday were treated to sumptuous UEFA Champions League football with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur making remarkable comebacks against almighty Barcelona and Ajax respectively.
After leading the first leg 3-0 at the Camp Nou, FC Barcelona thought they already had one leg in the final but they were shocked when Jurgen Klopp’s team without the prolific duo of Mohammed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored four un-replied goals against the Spanish champions at Liverpool’s Anfield fortress.
Unlikely heroes, Georgina Wildnajold and Divick Origi contributed a brace each to complete a stunning comeback against Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.
With the result, Liverpool advanced to their second successive final with a 4-3 aggregate victory and will hope for better luck in the final slated for Madrid.
Klopp’s team became only the third team in the history of the European Cup or Champions League to come from three goals down after the first leg of a semi-final and progress after Panathinaikos in 1970-71 and Barcelona themselves in 1985-86.
Not many gave the English side any chance of progressing to the final not after losing scandalously last week in the first leg played in Spain. Now Barcelona will look back at the first leg and rue the misses by Moussa Dembele and Jordi Alba. With a 5-0 score line in the first leg, it would have been practically impossible for Liverpool to overturn the deficit at Anfield.
However, when a club has undying and vociferous supporters like that of Liverpool, nothing is impossible. Klopp.
It was unimaginable that Liverpool could score four goals without Messi getting on the score sheet at least once in 90 minutes.
I am sure next time Barcelona is paired against Liverpool, Messi and his colleagues will not be satisfied with a three-goal advantage. I am certain the Argentine talisman and his teammates will try to score as many goals as possible especially if the first leg is slated for Camp Nou.
Though Messi, Gerrard Pique, Jordi Alba and others may have won Champions League and other prominent trophies before now, the defeat at Anfield is one memory that will continue to trouble the Barcelona players for many years and even after their retirement from active football.
From the remarkable comeback of Liverpool, another lesson of life was served; NEVER GIVE UP!
If Klopp and his lads had given up after the first leg, Liverpool would have lost out on the opportunity to atone for their last season’s loss in the final against Real Madrid.
Also, you don’t underrate or look down on anyone. Had Salah and Fimino remained fit, it is unlikely that Origi will play any part in the match.  Similarly, if Liverpool left-back, Andrew Robertson did not sustain an injury, Wildnajold would have remained glued to the substitutes’ bench.
The Liverpool comeback aside, Tottenham yesterday surprised everyone including themselves with a 3-2 defeat of Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena in the Netherlands to set-up an all-English final in Madrid.
Spurs and Liverpool will meet at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid on 1 June in the first all-English Champions League final since Manchester United beat Chelsea on penalties in 2008.
Lucas Moura scored twice in four minutes to get Spurs fans thinking the impossible was possible, and the Brazilian completed his hat-trick in stoppage-time to seal a stunning victory on away goals.
An emotional Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino speaking to BT Sport: “Still difficult to talk. The emotion is amazing, thank you to football. My players are heroes – in the last year I was telling everyone this group are heroes.
The second half they were amazing. Thank you football – this type of emotion without football is no possible. Thank you to everyone who has believed in us. To describe this in words is difficult.
“We were talking before the game that when you work and when you feel the love it’s not stress it’s passion of the team. We showed we love the sport and football. Today was amazing. It was a joy to watch this kind of game.
“It’s difficult to compete at this level. I am so grateful to be a coach. To be in football and to live this type of football.
“They are all heroes but [Lucas Moura] was a superhero. From the first to last one – the tough moment to live in the fivve years before.”
Pochettino then wells up with tears…
See you all in Madrid!

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