The Antithetical Champions League Final

Image Source - UEFA Champions League Twitter page

There is no doubt that the 2018/19 Champions League was one of the most electrifying tournaments in recent memory. But the final of this tournament proved to be quite unstimulating for the majority of the neutral fans. Although the Liverpool fans couldn’t care less as their team had just won their sixth UEFA Champions League title ever. And they fully deserved this trophy going into the finals on account of their insanely attractive football that was on show for the entirety of the year.

Enjoy @Imaginedragons' awesome performance at the #UCLfinal Opening Ceremony presented by @Pepsi #ForTheLoveOfIt pic.twitter.com/QHL9SuMt6H

— #UCLfinal (@ChampionsLeague) June 2, 2019

The opening ceremony for the finals was performed by the American pop rock band ‘Imagine Dragons’. They made sure that the atmosphere was charged up, to set the platform for the kick-off. It was predicted to be an exciting match, but no one did know that there would be such drama within the first 20 minutes of the game. Mohamed Salah turned up for Liverpool to score a penalty goal in the second minute, making it the second-fastest goal to ever be scored in a Champions League final after Liverpool was awarded a rather debatable penalty by Slovenian referee Damir Skomina for a handball inside the penalty area by Moussa Sissoko. This saw Liverpool take the lead in just under two minutes.

Tottenham tried their best to level with the Reds but the Liverpool defence was deemed impassable. The last exciting moment in the first half was rather a non-football affair when a scantily dressed woman invaded the pitch at 18 minutes. The game was stopped for the authorities to escort the woman out of the premises. It was later found out that the woman was a part of a group that is known for previously invading a World Cup football match. This event seemed to shake both the sides, because, after this particular incident the match seemed to take a turn for the worse as the game grew lifeless. Thus, the first half ended with Liverpool’s solitary goal the difference between the two teams.

The second half promised to be a pretty interesting affair as the underdogs, Tottenham Hotspur, were thought to fight back. This hope was due to the competency shown by Tottenham previously against AFC Ajax by coming back from a very huge deficit to win the match. But the promise couldn’t live up to the extravagant hopes pinned on the Lilywhites. They had kept their belief on their captain and leader Harry Kane, but he was a ghost of himself after coming back from injury. His largely ineffective form could have been the result of a long gap in his playtime. Though that’s not to say that Alisson Becker had an easy day between the sticks, as he was forced into some excellent saves by the likes of Christian Eriksen and Heung-Min Son. After a mostly cagey second half, it seemed Salah’s penalty would be the only thing separating both the teams. But in the 87th minutes, Liverpool substitute Divock Origi turned up to expertly strike the ball past Hugo Lloris’ outstretched hands and into the bottom corner. This sealed the deal for Liverpool as they saw out the rest of the match with ease and went on to claim the UEFA Champions League 2018/19 trophy.

A moment we'll never forget.#SixTimespic.twitter.com/7L5Xv1qstW

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 1, 2019

This trophy meant a lot for Jurgen Klopp’s men as they came very close to clinch this trophy last year but were defeated by Real Madrid in the finals. This win makes Liverpool the most successful English team in Champions League history with 6 titles. Manchester United comes in second with three title wins. In the other European league and another all-English tie, Chelsea beat Arsenal by four goals to one to clinch the Europa League title. Liverpool and Chelsea will meet in the UEFA Super Cup in August for yet another all-English tie.