Liverpool Edge All-English Affair

Experience tells as Klopp’s men claim sixth title.

- Keir Radnedge

Been there. Done that. Now got the European Cup. The 2019 UEFA Champions League showdown was not the best of Finals. Nor was it the worst, though the outcome had been predicted because Liverpool brought the stronger team, the deeper squad, and the greater investment.

Most important, however, Jurgen Klopp’s team boasted one crucial quality denied to Tottenham: the weight of experience from the same occasion a year earlier.

They had no cause for pause to gauge the emotional temperature or catch their breath in the rarefied atmosphere of the world’s biggest club game. All that had been computed in Kiev. Hence it was straight down to business: into the attack, into the penalty box and into the lead – courtesy of Sadio Mane’s chip, Mousa Sissoko’s handball, referee Damir Skomina’s instant certitude, and Mohamed Salah’s penalty.

The first Egyptian to score in a Final also claimed its second-fastest goal, after Paolo Maldini’s strike against Liverpool for Milan in 2005. Tottenham needed a full hour to recover their composure, put their shattered game back together.