Tottenham 0-2 Liverpool - 4 Talking Points | 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League final
It's official, Liverpool are the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League winners and have earned the right to contest next season's Super Cup with Chelsea in August, as well as the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
The victory was Liverpool's first European trophy since 2005 and indeed their first major trophy of any kind since 2012, bringing their total European Cups to six.
The Reds are now the outright third highest winners of the competition behind only Real Madrid and AC Milan and as such, the 'You'll Never Win Anything' trolls can take a long overdue backseat.
Given the harrowing nature of their Premier League title loss to Manchester City, anything other than victory in the match would have been a travesty and as fate would have it, lightning did not strike twice as Liverpool rose from their defeat in last season's final to Real Madrid with Salah getting his redemption.
With their victory, Jurgen Klopp's men have laid down a marker that they are here to stay and belong among the very elite of European football. For their part, Tottenham contributed their own quota to making this an exhilarating Champions League season but ultimately came up short when it mattered most. In this piece, we shall be highlighting four talking points from the 2018/2019 Champions League final.
#4 Klopp finally ends final hoodoo
Ever since Jurgen Klopp arrived in Liverpool in October 2015, there has been undeniable progress at the club.
The 51-year-old inherited a side which was disjointed and lacking any clear direction, but he has implanted his personality on the club, moulding his squad into his boisterous and lively personality and this much is evident in the way his players play.
When Klopp arrived Anfield, they were nowhere near being top four contenders, but in just his first full season, he led the side back into Europe's elite and made it all the way to the final of the Champions League campaign.
However for all of the progress made, a major dent on the German manager was the lack of silverware during his tenure and the way his side capitulated in the just concluded season of the Premier League season only helped buttress the opinion that Klopp was a 'nearly man'.
Heading into the clash with Tottenham, much was made about the fact that Klopp had lost his last six finals, with three of those coming at Liverpool as his side fell to Manchester City in the League Cup just four months on from his arrival, while throwing away a one-goal lead to lose to Sevilla in the 2016 Europa League final as well as last season's reversal to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
This trio of defeats came in addition to three he suffered as Dortmund boss and it must have played into his psychology heading into the fixture.
However, those proved to be nothing more than more distractions, as his side showed dominance over their Premier League rivals to hand Klopp his first European trophy at the fourth time of asking.
Liverpool's Champions League win has guaranteed them a shot at two more trophies in the next six months and with the questions of 'not having a winning mentality' now out of the way, Jurgen Klopp can now focus on leading his side to challenge Manchester City once more for that much elusive Premier League title.