Tottenham Hotspur Takes on Liverpool In Champions League Final

A pair of teams from the English Premier League will go at it on Saturday as Tottenham Hotspur faces off against Liverpool in the Champions League Final. Unlike Wednesday’s Europa League Final, which took place in the remote (and controversial) setting of Baku, Azerbaijan this match will take place in a city worthy of such an event–Madrid, Spain at the 67,000 seat Estadio Metropolitano or if you want to get in the correct sponsorship designation Wanda Metropolitano. It is the home field of La Liga side Atletico Madrid and should have plenty of fans representing both sides in attendance on Saturday.

Both teams have taken advantage of a considerable amount of luck to get here. Tottenham Hotspur lost the first leg of the semifinal to Ajax Amsterdam on their home field by a 1-0 margin and were down 2-0 at halftime of the return leg. They would respond with three goals in the second half including the decisive score in stoppage time to tie things up 3-3 on the aggregate and advance due to away goals. Liverpool’s semifinal comeback has already become legendary among English soccer fans and something of a disgrace among their Spanish counterparts. Liverpool dropped the first leg to Barcelona at Camp Nou 3-0 but came roaring back in the return engagement at Anfield as they dominated the La Liga champions en route to a 4-0 decision and a spot in the finals.

Liverpool had a great season in the Premiership though it was overshadowed by Manchester City’s back to back league championships. In the end, Liverpool finished 1 point back of Manchester City and lost only once in Premier League play to finish with a record of 30-7-1. Tottenham was the fourth place finisher in the league with a record of 23-2-13 and trailed Liverpool at the end of the year by 26 points. Both teams have to deal with a lengthy hiatus between this game and their previous action. The final day of the Premiership season was May 12 and neither Liverpool or Tottenham have played since making it a layoff of just under three weeks. This has the benefit of allowing players to come in with fewer nagging injuries but the more significant downside is that it’s easy for a team to lose their momentum.

Not that Tottenham has much momentum coming into this matchup as they’ve won only 1 of their last 5 contests in all competitions–the Champions League semifinal in Amsterdam. A bigger issue could be their form away from their home field at White Hart Lane or nearby Wembley Stadium. On the road Tottenham has won only 2 of their last 11 in all competitions with 9 losses. Liverpool’s form is dramatically different as the Reds have 13 wins in their last 14 games in all competitions with the only loss being the first leg of the semifinals against Barcelona at Camp Nou. That was also their only setback in their last 7 away contests with the other six fixtures being Liverpool wins.

Liverpool has had Tottenham’s number for years now. They won both Premiership meetings this season by identical scores of 2-1. Tottenham has won only once in their last 14 matchups with Liverpool in all competitions. You have to go back a long way to find a meeting between the teams European cup competition–but even that was a Liverpool victory as they beat the Spurs in the 1973 UEFA Cup Semifinal on away goals.

Objectively speaking, Liverpool looks to be a cut above Tottenham qualitatively and the head to head performances further validate this assertion. Tottenham should be competitive but Liverpool will prevail in a game similar in form to the two they played in league this season. 5 of the last 7 Champions League Finals have seen 3 or more goals scored and based on what we’ve seen this year from these teams that will likely be the case here. Looking at the Champions League betting odds board we like Liverpool to win going over the total.

BET LIVERPOOL -1/2 -109 OVER TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
BET LIVERPOOL/TOTTENHAM OVER 2 1/2 -112

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