The great anticipation has ended - this evening the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League final will take place. For the first time since 2016, Madrid's "Real" club will not be playing - their place, compared to last year's final, has been taken for the first time by London's "Tottenham" team vying for this trophy. At the "Wanda Metropolitano" stadium, the "Liverpool" club, playing in the final for the second year in a row, will try to justify their favorite status and defeat Mauricio Pochettino's army. Both "Tottenham" and "Liverpool" clubs faced serious difficulties in the semi-finals, but fortune favored the English teams. In the history of the UEFA Champions League, this is only the second time that two English teams meet in the final. This title is equally vital for both sides - "Liverpool" has not contested for any trophies in seven years, while "Tottenham" has not had a serious chance to fight for the title in this decade. The highly anticipated final will start at 22:00 Lithuanian time. The road to the final Liverpool's journey towards another final began very tough - in the group stage, the "red" team narrowly stayed in second place. The London's "Tottenham" also faced serious difficulties in the group stage, but both clubs managed to qualify for the quarter-finals in the last round. Jurgen Klopp's team lost all three group stage matches. The crucial victory was achieved at home against "Napoli", securing the second place. Paris Saint-Germain remained the first, while Napoli and Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda" had to withdraw from the tournament. In the quarter-finals, Liverpool faced another hurdle - the German champions Bayern Munich. The first leg ended in a goalless draw, but in Munich, goals from Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk secured Liverpool's place in the semi-finals. There they faced a favorable opponent - "Porto". Liverpool progressed to the semi-finals by defeating the Portuguese team with an overall result of 6:1. In the final step before the final, the English team faced the tough challenge of facing "Barcelona". The encounters between these teams were historic - after the first match in Barcelona, Liverpool, who had a three-goal deficit, performed a true miracle in front of their fans and defeated the opponents with a score of 4:0. Barcelona, who were already preparing for the final, suffered one of the most significant failures in European tournament history. Similarly to Liverpool, Tottenham fought against strong opponents in the group stage - Barcelona, Inter, and PSV. Mauricio Pochettino's team had a tragic start to the tournament - Spurs lost the first two games and played a draw with PSV in the third. However, even two victories were enough for the London team to advance to the next stage. In the quarter-finals, Tottenham faced Borussia Dortmund. A close contest and fierce competition were expected in this pair, but nothing of the sort happened - Tottenham secured a victory in the first match with a score of 3:0, and in the return leg, they celebrated with a narrow advantage. From the quarter-finals onwards, Tottenham's miracle-making began. Initially, they had to battle against Manchester City, who were just centimeters away from reaching the semi-finals. Tottenham won the first match with a score of 1:0, but in the return leg, marked by five goals in 20 minutes, Spurs saved themselves only due to the away goals rule. Manchester City won 4:3, but Tottenham was satisfied with the result. The match was unique in its ending - Raheem Sterling scored the fifth goal in the last minute, which shocked the entire Tottenham team, but after a long wait for a VAR review, the goal was disallowed, and Tottenham advanced to the final. In the semi-finals, where they met the favorites who had eliminated Ajax from Amsterdam, Tottenham did not fail either. The first match in London ended in a defeat of 0:1. The match in Amsterdam did not promise anything good either - Tottenham had a two-goal deficit in the first half, meaning they needed to score at least three goals in the remaining 45 minutes. What seemed difficult to imagine became a reality - in the second half, Lucas Moura scored three goals alone and led Tottenham to the final. As in the match against Manchester City, the London team saved themselves in the final moments of the game. The path of the Liverpool and Tottenham teams in the Champions League was marked by both bitter failures and sensational victories. The teams are the only ones left, but the most crucial step - the final. Team news Both teams arrived in Madrid with practically their strongest lineups. Both Liverpool and Tottenham had to endure injury crises in recent months, but before the most important match of the season, both teams will be competitive and resilient. Tottenham faced a major surprise - Harry Kane, who suffered an injury in the first quarter-final match, was not supposed to play for the rest of the season, but his unexpected presence in the final allowed the Englishman to return to training and prepare for the battle against Liverpool. It is unknown whether H. Kane is ready to play from the start, but the latest predictions suggest that M. Pochettino will include the Englishman in the starting lineup, rather than the hero of the semi-finals, L. Moura. The only absence in the Liverpool team is Naby Keita. The player suffered an injury in the match against Barcelona and will not return to the field until the start of next season. Roberto Firmino also had problems in recent weeks, but there are no doubts about his appearance in the final. It is believed that both teams will play with fairly standard lineups - J. Klopp is expected to use a formation with three defenders and three midfielders. Similarly, Tottenham is likely to have at least three defenders in the midfield. Essentially, the formation of 'Spurs' will depend on whether H. Kane is starting. Predicted starting lineups: - Tottenham: (4-2-3-1) Hugo Lloris; Kieran Trippier, Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Danny Rose; Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko; Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli, Heung-min Son; Harry Kane. - Liverpool: (4-3-3) Alisson; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane. Interesting facts - This will be Liverpool's ninth European Cup/Champions League final - the most among all English clubs. The Reds have won the trophy five times but lost the last two - in 2007 and 2018. - Tottenham is playing in their first final in this tournament. All the last five final debutants have lost their contests - Chelsea (2008), Arsenal (2006), Monaco (2006), Bayer (2002), and Valencia (2000). - The last team to lose two consecutive Champions League finals was Valencia, with failures in 2000 and 2001. - This will be Tottenham's first European final since 1984. Spurs could become the third English team to win the UEFA Cup, Cup Winners' Cup, and the Champions League. - Liverpool has lost all four finals since their triumph in 2012. Tottenham has experienced two failures in the finals since 2008. - Sadio Mane could become only the second player after Franz Roth (Bayern, 1975 and 1976) to score in two consecutive European Cup/Champions League finals. - Tottenham has conceded the most goals in this season's Champions League - 17. Seven of those goals came within the first 15 minutes of matches. - Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool will be appearing in his third European final (2 CL, 1 EL) - only Bob Paisley has led this team to four European finals.
