Liverpool and Tottenham will meet in the final of the Champions League after progressing in the most unlikely of circumstances.
The Reds are aiming to win their sixth European Cup and go one step further than they did last season and Tottenham will be aiming to win their first Champions League trophy in their history.
Both managers will be confident heading into the final after staging remarkable comebacks in the semi-finals but it appears Klopp has had something of a spell over Pochettino in their meetings to date. Since Klopp arrived in the Premier League in 2015, the two managers have gone head-to-head nine times in total – eight times in the Premier League and once in the League Cup.
Of those nine meetings, Mauricio Pochettino has got the better of the German just once, a 4-1 over the Reds at Wembley in 2017. Spurs’ team hasn’t changed much since then, whereas Klopp has seen Coutinho and Emre Can depart with Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and Allison all coming in to make a big impact at Anfield.
Four of those nine meetings have ended in draws with the other four resulting in Liverpool wins, much to the delight of the German manager. Like most teams this season, Klopp’s incredible Liverpool side have done the double over Tottenham, beating them 2-1 at Wembley in September before a last-second Toby Alderweireld own goal gave them all three points at Anfield.
That goal has put them in with a slim chance of winning the Premier League title on the final day. It’s easy going for Spurs on the final day having already secured their place in the top four and next season’s Champions League. This poor record gives Pochettino an average of 0.78 points per match against Klopp. That makes the German his second least successful opponent to face, only beaten by Pep Guardiola with a record of 0.76 points per match.
For both teams, all attention will be on that final in Madrid with Tottenham looking to take advantage of Klopp’s poor record in finals.
The German gaffer has lost his last six major finals with Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund and will be looking to overcome that hurdle this time around on the biggest of stages.
One thing is guaranteed. We will get our first English winner of the tournament since Chelsea in 2012 and our first all-English final since Manchester United beat the Blues in Moscow in 2008.