Champions League final lacked thrills, but Liverpool fans won’t care

Champions of Europe for a sixth time, Liverpool’s best season for 20 years has ended in silverware.

This was only the second all-English Champions League final, but the Reds’ clash with Tottenham was not a high-octane advert for the Premier League.

Mo Salah’s goal from the spot after just two minutes seemed to take the sting out of the game, which at times resembled a meandering exhibition match or a pre-season friendly – possibly a victim of the long gap since the climax of the Premier League season.

But the Liverpool fans lucky enough to be inside the Wanda Metropolitano stadium didn’t mind.

As they filed out at the final whistle, many bleary-eyed from a day in the searing heat coupled with the emotion of the occasion, they cheered the name of Divock Origi, the substitute whose 88th minute goal sealed a famous victory.

Many said manager Jurgen Klopp, now in his fourth year on Merseyside, had secured his place in the club’s rich history alongside the likes of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

The German had previously lost six major finals, including two in the Champions League, first with Borussia Dortmund in 2013 and last year with Liverpool in Kiev, when they were soundly beaten by Real Madrid.

Victory in the Spanish capital was an emphatic dismissal of anyone who might have considered him a nearly-man.

Klopp is building a legacy at Liverpool, as well as a squad which nobody wants to leave, and the affection towards him among his players was clear to see as they threw him into the air in the centre of the pitch.

“Did you ever see a team like this, fighting with no fuel in the tank? I am so happy for the boys, all these people and my family. They suffer for me, they deserve it more than anybody,” he said, after winning his first silverware with Liverpool since arriving in 2015.

“It was an intense season with the most beautiful finish I ever could have imagined.”

There was a characteristically resolute performance by Virgil van Dijk, a rock in the Liverpool defence, and the goalkeeper Alisson, whose presence was a major factor in the team recording the third-highest points tally in the history of the Premier League.

They still missed out on the title to Manchester City on the final day, but emerged from that disappointment to claim the biggest prize in European club football.

For Trent Alexander-Arnold, who grew up just a few miles from Anfield and in his second Champions League final aged just 20, it was the sweetest of victories with his boyhood club.

Salah, the talisman in the team, grew up thousands of miles away in Egypt, but was savouring the moment just the same: “I have sacrificed a lot for my career. To come from a village, to go to Cairo, and to be an Egyptian at this level is unbelievable for me.”

For Spurs, it was desolation at the final whistle, many of their fans having spent thousands of pounds to watch their team in a first European final for 35 years.

But most supporters acknowledged the remarkable achievement to even get this far, given that no money has been spent on new signings this season.

Next year, maybe, will be theirs, they said.

(c) Sky News 2019: Champions League final lacked thrills, but Liverpool fans won’t care