London (AFP) – Fuelled by the pain of their failed Premier League title bid, Liverpool’s stars admit they are desperate to win the club’s sixth European Cup when they face Tottenham in Saturday’s Champions League final.
Jurgen Klopp’s side will be motivated by a burning sense of injustice in the all-Premier League clash at the Wanda Metropolitano.
A win against Tottenham in Madrid would give Liverpool their first Champions League crown since Rafael Benitez’s underdogs stunned AC Milan in 2005 with one of the all-time great comebacks.
From their first European Cup coronation against Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977 to hard-fought wins over Bruges, Real Madrid and Roma in 1978, 1981 and 1984, all of Liverpool’s continental final victories have a special place in the hearts of their fans.
But the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’ will forever be etched in Liverpool history as arguably the club’s most memorable moment in the competition.
Nothing will surpass that incredible night at the Ataturk Stadium when Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool’s recovery from three goals down at half-time.
Yet, just three weeks after the conclusion of their painful near-miss in the Premier League title race, beating Tottenham in the club’s ninth European Cup final would be the most euphoric consolation prize for Liverpool fans across the world.
When Klopp’s team held a seven-point lead at the top of the table in mid-January, the Kop faithful dreamt that Liverpool’s 29-year wait to win the English title was about to reach a glorious end.
That three-decade barren period has been a source of constant frustration at Anfield.
But Liverpool’s hearts were broken again as Manchester City reeled off a remarkable 14-game winning run that brought them a second successive title and left Klopp still looking for the first trophy of his four-year reign.
– Great promise –
It was even more galling than their narrow failure in 2014 when Gerrard’s untimely slip against Chelsea gifted the title to City in the final weeks of the season.
This time, Liverpool were beaten just once in the league all season, amassed 97 points — the third highest total in the Premier League era — and sprinted to the finish line with nine consecutives victories.
Even that wasn’t enough to finish above an historically great City side, leaving the Champions League final as Liverpool’s last hope to turn a season of great promise into tangible reward.
It would be cruel for such a dynamic side to finish empty-handed, especially after they authored an escape act for the ages with a 4-0 semi-final win over Barcelona that overturned a 3-0 first leg deficit.
from World Soccer Talk http://bit.ly/2MdxmwM
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