Last night it was confirmed that it would be an all-Premier League affair in this seasons UEFA Champions League final. Liverpool had already made a historic comeback overcoming a 3-0 first leg defeat against Barcelona to win 4-3 on aggregate when Spurs performed a miracle of their own to meet them in Madrid for the final. The Londoners trailed 1-0 from the first leg at home and then conceded early in the away leg leaving them with their own mountain to climb. Just like Liverpool though they didn't give up, Lucas Moura scored twice in the opening 15 minutes of the 2nd half before bringing the game to an incredible climax when he completed his hat-trick deep into injury time at the end of the game to send Spurs through on away goals.
It will be Liverpool's 9th appearance in the final and they will be looking to lift the trophy for the 6th time in the clubs history pulling them clear of Barca and Bayern as the third most successful team with only Milan and Madrid ahead of them. Spurs will be making their first-ever appearance in the final and therefore will be hoping to lift it for the first time.
The sides have faced off twice already this season in the league with Liverpool winning both games by the same scoreline of 2-1. the first game which took place at Wembley whilst Spurs new stadium was being built Liverpool took a 2-goal lead with Spurs not managing to score until the dying moments of the game. The encounter at Anfield was much more tightly contested and decided by a bizarre own goal from Toby Alderweireld on the 90th minute.
Both sides have undergone arduous journies to get to the final, Spurs found themselves in an extremely difficult group with Barcelona, Inter and PSV and it didn't get any easier in the knockout stages where they met Dortmund and then played out two incredible ties against Manchester City and Ajax, edging both thanks to away goals. Liverpool also had a difficult group and only qualified into the knockout stage by the skin of their teeth by beating Napoli 1-0 on the final game. They dispatched Porto and Bayern Munich relatively easily but seemed to be crashing out in the semi-final stage after a disastrous trip to Spain. Yet here they are, back in the final for the second year in a row and ever since last seasons final it has felt like they had unfinished business in this competition.
The final will take place on June 1st at 20:00 in Athletico Madrid's new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.