The Champions League always produces great stats. The most recent version has seen 26
finals, while the European Cup, its predecessor, began in 1955 and ran until the Champions
League’s inaugural season in 1992-93. Liverpool will be appearing in their ninth European
Cup or Champions League final, a record for English teams. Spurs will be in their first,
the eighth English team to reach the final. The last five teams making their final debut
in the competition went on to lose, a record Mauricio Pochettino’s men will be keen to
upset.
Of course, if you want to keep up with Tottenham Hotspur vs Liverpool, the OneFootball app
will have live updates and stats throughout the game.
Liverpool have participated in the European Cup or Champions League 23 times, winning
five titles, and have been runners-up a further three times; UEFA ranks them as 8th in the
all-time European Cup or Champions League standings. They have also won the UEFA Cup
three times and finished second in 2015-16.
Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, are ranked 73rd with five European Cup or Champions
League participations and no titles. However, Spurs were the first British club to win a
major European competition, taking the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963; they also won the
UEFA Cup in 1972, the competition’s first year of existence, and again in 1984. That
first UEFA Cup win was again an all-English affair, with Spurs seeing off Wolverhampton
Wanderers across two legs 3-2.
While that might be considered a good omen, the following season Liverpool won the UEFA
Cup, beating Spurs on away goals in the semi-finals, the only time prior to this season’s Champions
League finals when the two teams have met in European competition.
Jurgen Klopp will be contesting his third Champions League final – he finished runner-up
with Borussia Dortmund in 2012-13 and with Liverpool last season, losing to Real Madrid.
His only other European final again finished in defeat, as Liverpool finished runners-up
in the Europa League to Sevilla. He’s currently the joint 15th coach for overall dugout appearances
in the competition with 60, tied with Vincete de Bosque Diego Simeone.
Mauricio Pochettino has, of course, never featured in a European final as a player or
coach, though he has won a domestic cup competition as a player, winning the Copa del Rey twice
with Espanyol.
Only European-born coaches have won the Champions League, although two non-European bosses won
the European Cup twice and both were, like Pochettino, from Argentina: Luis Carniglia
with Real Madrid in 1958 and 1959, and Helenio Herrera with Inter Milan in 1964 and 1965.
In the Champions League era, two non-European managers have guided teams to the final twice
each, and both have lost both times; Hector Cuper took Valencia to consecutive finals
defeats in 2000 and 2001, including a loss to German manager Ottmar Hitzfeld’s Bayern
Munich; Diego Simeone took Atletico Madrid to two all-Spanish finals in 2014 and 2016
and lost both. Of course, Cuper and Simeone are both from Argentina.
Between 1997 and 2002, only the 2000 final didn’t see a German coach; in total, a German-coached
side has won the Champions League four times, and lost a further five, including the all-German
coached final of 2013 – two of these losses were under Klopp himself. Jupp Heynckes is
the only German coach to manage a team from another league to a Champions League win so
far, steering Real Madrid to the title in 1998.
Indeed, of the four coaches in the Champions League era to have won the competiton with
two different teams, two are German, including Heynckes:
Remarkably, if Klopp wins, he will become only the second coach in the Champions League
era to win the title having first lost a final – Fabio Capello was beaten in 1993 as coach
of AC Milan by Raymond Goethals’ Marseille, but won the following year with AC Milan against
Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona.
And the youngest Champions League winning coach? Pep Guardiola, who was just 38 years
and 129 days when he guided Barcelona to the title in 2009, and who was put out this season
by Pochettino.
Three of the five youngest European Cup champions are from the Ajax side of 1995:
Nwankwo Kanu Patrick Kluivert
Iker Casillas Clarence Seedorf
Carlos Alberto
Should he appear and Liverpool win, Rhian Brewster would displace Carlos Alberto by
over 100 days. More impressively, but perhaps less likely, Spurs’ Oliver Skipp could be
a Champions League winner aged just 18 years, eight months, and 16 days – that would make
him the youngest winner, should he feature and Spurs take the title.
Interestingly, Seedorf is also the only player to win it with three different clubs: Ajax
in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998, and AC Milan twice, in 2003 and 2007.
Neither side is replete with Champions League experience. Only Spurs’ Hugo Lloris and
Lucas Moura have over 50 Champions League appearances to their name, both turning out
for French sides in the competition before moving to north London.
Mohamed Salah has 21 Champions League goals, the most of any player appearing in the final.
Next is Roberto Firmino with 15. Of course, Liverpool’s top scorer in Champions League
games overall is Steven Gerrard, who amassed 30, the highest of any pure midfielder (as
opposed to winger or attacking midfielder) in the competition’s history. Spurs’ highest
scorer in Son Heung-Min, with 14, five of which were scored back in 2014/15 for Bayer
Leverkusen.
Interestingly, if Hugo Lloris lifts the Champions League trophy, he will become only the fourth
captain to do so not of the same nationality as the team he leads. Peter Schmeichel captained
Manchester United to the win in 1999, while Fernando Redondo was the on-field captain
for Real Madrid in 2000 and Javier Zanetti skippered Inter Milan in 2010. Lloris would
be the third goalkeeper, after Schmeichel and Real Madrid’s Iker Casillas to lift
the Champions League. Both Liverpool’s captain and vice-captain are, of course, English.