Storylines to know ahead of the 2019 Champions League Final

It's possible no club welcomed the end of the Premier League campaign more than Tottenham, a side ravaged by injuries and left depleted and visibly exhausted over the last two months. Remove the 1-0 victory over lowly Brighton that came only because of late heroics from Christian Eriksen, and the Spurs would have accumulated a record of 0-5-1 in their last six league matches. Tottenham weren't merely victims of misfortune following the halfway point of April. They played fatigued and, far too often, uninspired football throughout the spring. Logic suggests they can't get away with that vs. Liverpool. 

Liverpool's last Premier League defeat occurred on Jan. 3 when future champions Manchester City notched a 2-1 victory at the Etihad. That ended Liverpool's 20-game league unbeaten streak, but the Reds responded by not losing in the competition the rest of the year. They toppled the last nine English sides they faced. Tottenham held onto fourth place and the right to play Champions League football next season largely because Arsenal and Manchester United suffered their own calamities during Spurs' spring swoon. Liverpool, meanwhile, cruised to 97 points, which, per Opta, would have been good enough to win the Premier League in all but one of the previous 26 campaigns. 

The Tottenham squad has been a walking wounded unit for some time, but Spurs provided positive news for supporters on May 22 when the club tweeted Harry Kane (ankle), Davinson Sanchez (thigh) and Jan Vertonghen (ankle) were all training for the Final. Midfielder Harry Winks, recovering from groin surgery, is also likely to be available for the Liverpool showdown, as Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports wrote. Pairing Winks with Moussa Sissoko would, ideally, prevent midfield maestro Christian Eriksen from needing to drop back, as Winks' confidence in possession allows the Denmark international to concentrate more on going forward in attacking sequences. 

On May 23, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp offered updates on Roberto Firmino (thigh) and Naby Keita (adductor). Firmino is back in training and should rejoin Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane in the Liverpool attack for the Final. This should relegate Divock Origi, the hero responsible for late goals vs. Newcastle United and Barcelona, to the bench. Keita, meanwhile, "cannot play" if he isn't fully fit, per Klopp's words, and it appears his status will remain in question up through Liverpool's final preparations. 

As Marca's Ander Cotorro explained, Spurs earned only one point from their first three Champions League group fixtures but managed to advance to the last 16 thanks to a draw at the Nou Camp coupled with PSV holding Inter to a 1-1 result on Dec.11. Fernando Llorente's "Hip of God" goal and VAR put Tottenham past City and through to the semifinal and a meeting with Ajax. Lucas Moura's miraculous hat trick completed at the death in Amsterdam delivered the Lilywhites with a first Champions League Final appearance. If Tottenham's European lives equal those belonging to a cat, Spurs are probably on existence No. 8 as of the last week of May. 

Like Tottenham, Liverpool needed a positive result on the last day of group stage play to advance, and a Salah goal matched by a herculean stoppage-time save from goalkeeper Alisson propelled the 2018 finalists to the knockout rounds. If the Reds go on to lift the trophy, supporters will speak of the club's comeback from a 3-0 first-leg defeat to Barcelona in the semifinal as long as the sport exists. Liverpool dominated the Spanish giants for much of the contest before Trent Alexander-Arnold found Origi on a quick corner 11 minutes from time that was deposited into the back of the net for the fourth tally that booked the English side's journey to Madrid. 

Mauricio Pochettino's loyalty to preferred starters could be tested when the Tottenham manager is forced to select a right back. Kieran Trippier hasn't looked the same since suffering a groin injury in the semifinal of last summer's World Cup, and as T.A Bharadwaj of Spurs-Web pointed out, Spurs supporters blamed the 28-year-old for a pair of miscues that resulted in Ajax jumping out to a 3-0 advantage on aggregate at halftime of the semifinal second leg. Serge Aurier last featured in early March and is bound to be rusty, and neither Kyle Walker-Peters (22 years old) nor Juan Foyth (21) has experience playing the position on such a massive stage. 

Granted, the hosts survived some nervous moments at Anfield on May 7, but Liverpool holding a Barcelona side featuring the trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho scoreless showed the Reds' last line of defense can, at its best, be an impenetrable wall. Center back Virgil van Dijk won PFA Player of the Year honors for the campaign. Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail recently wrote about how playing alongside Van Dijk helped Joel Matip evolve into a force worthy of starting a Final. As Chris Shaw of Liverpool.com explained, Andy Robertson and Alexander-Arnold made history by becoming the first defenders from the same EPL side to tally 10-plus assists in a season. 

Barring an unforeseen setback, Kane, recovering from the ankle injury he suffered on April 9, will be in the Tottenham team for the Final if he has to force Pochettino's hand via threat of violence. Whether or not the two-time Premier League Golden Boot winner will start vs. Liverpool is a hot debate among analysts and also Tottenham supporters who are arguing their points on social media platforms. In 2014, Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa returned ahead of schedule from a hamstring injury for the Champions League Final, but he failed to last even 10 full minutes before exiting the match. Is the potential reward worth the risk for Spurs, particularly when Pochettino could start hat-trick hero Moura and save Kane to play the role of second-half substitute? 

As mentioned earlier, finishing on 97 points would've been good enough for Liverpool to hoist the Premier League Trophy just about any other year but in May 2019. As much as the Champions League Final presents an opportunity to right a wrong and win European club football's biggest prize, the wait between May 1 and June 1 gives players time to think about past results, such as the January loss to Manchester City or 1-1 draw vs. Leicester City at Anfield later that same month. Liverpool stood tall through the final round but nevertheless lost a heavyweight title fight with City. Recovering from that setback may prove to be more difficult than some imagine. 

On May 24, TalkSport's Joe Moore delivered a piece with comments given to the website straight from the Tottenham boss. "There’s still a lot of work to do, but of course I am so motivated to stay with Tottenham and provide Tottenham with what they deserve," Pochettino told TalkSport. Those who've followed the story are aware the 47-year-old has been linked with multiple clubs such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus this season alone, and uncertainty regarding Tottenham's future transfer policies after going two full windows with zero significant signings may have Pochettino questioning how much further he can guide Spurs. One can't imagine a better walk-off for a manager than winning the Champions League. 

Liverpool twice conquered Tottenham this season, once at Wembley and then at Anfield on the last day of March, and they finished a remarkable 26 points ahead of Spurs in the league table. Newcastle and Bournemouth sat 26 points below Tottenham in the league table and at 13th and 14th in the table, respectively. Liverpool are favorites in multiple sportsbooks and for good reason. Tottenham keeping the match a one-score affair through the opening seconds of stoppage time would be an achievement in itself. 

Cup finals between strangers often breed boring and timid football, as nobody on the pitch wants to be responsible for a highlight-reel mistake. There are few, if any, secrets between these Tottenham and Liverpool squads, and sitting back in defensive stances suits neither. As Chris Shaw of Liverpool's official website wrote roughly two weeks before the Final, Klopp vowed his men "have to play the football we stand for. We have to play LFC football." If it's a brand of football that bulldozed over Barcelona to the tune of 4-0, Tottenham could be in for a long and rough night. 

Spurs are flying high after their greatest Champions League moment in Amsterdam, and they may feel the football fates will reside in their Madrid dressing room. Had this match occurred during the festive period, it's possible we'd be eying a coin-flip battle between two evenly matched foes. Now, however, Tottenham desperately need an offseason to recover and prepare for the next steps of the club's project at their shiny new stadium that's (finally) finished. 

Liverpool win 3-1.