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Tottenham Hotspur will play Liverpool in the Champions League final after an astonishing week of results in Europe.
On the chalkboard
Spurs headed into their clash with Ajax with a 1-0 deficit to overturn but fell 2-0 behind in Amsterdam.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men, though, staged an astonishing comeback to win 3-2 away from home, with Lucas Moura scoring a hat-trick. Mauricio Pochettino cried at the full-time whistle, as did much of his coaching staff.
Liverpool were also 3-0 behind on aggregate against Barcelona but produced another exceptional European night at Anfield, winning 4-0 to dump out Lionel Messi and Co. James Milner, like Pochettino, cried on the full-time whistle; Jurgen Klopp swore in a television interview.
The final, then, will surely be one judged on emotion rather than tactical intuition.
Both managers are exceptional at putting their teams together and creating systems within which their players thrive.
But, at the end of the day, both Pochettino and Klopp are emotional men, they wear their hearts on their sleeves and they are completely unafraid to own their feelings in front of millions.
It is inspiring, really, in an era of toxic masculinity but it will be interesting to see how the final will be decided. Will Pochettino stick with the attacking players who have got the club this far? Will he drop Lucas? Will he restore Harry Kane to the XI if he is fit?
Will Klopp stick with Divock Origi? Will Mohamed Salah be back in the team? Will it be an excellent tactical decision that ultimately swings the final one way or the other?
Or will emotion be the overriding factor?
An all-English thriller
Both Liverpool and Spurs are attacking teams at heart and caution will surely be thrown to the wind; this is a final after all.
Klopp and Pochettino are often beaten with the ‘what has he won’ stick.
And yet their first trophies while managing English clubs could well be the Champions League.
Emotions, then, will surely be running high.
If Spurs win, an 11-year trophy drought will be ended and Spurs will win the competition in its current incarnation for the first time.
If Liverpool win, they will collect their sixth European trophy, outlining their elite credentials to millions around the globe.
Whatever happens, expect the tears to flow.