Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has praised Jurgen Klopp for Liverpool’s dramatic Champions League semi-final second leg comeback against Barcelona that saw the Reds reach the Champions League final.
Pochettino managed to mastermind a similar comeback from his own side, as Tottenham scored three second half goals all from Lucas Moura to turn around their semi-final with Ajax on Wednesday, which means the Argentine’s side will face Liverpool in the Champions League final.
The final between Liverpool and Tottenham will be the first all-English Champions League final since 2008, when Manchester United beat Chelsea in Moscow, and Pochettino congratulated fellow Premier League boss Klopp after Spurs’ win at Ajax.
“I want to congratulate Jurgen Klopp and all the players and Liverpool, because I think they were amazing, Pochettino told the Mailonline.
‘We enjoyed a lot, watching the tie against Barcelona, they are heroes too and of course it is going to be an amazing final between two English teams that for sure we are going to enjoy.”
OPINION
Pochettino rightly praised the comeback produced by Liverpool in their Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona, with the Argentine having just witnessed his own Tottenham side replicate that same spirit to turn around their tie with Ajax. It is remarkable that this season’s Champions League final will be contested by two English sides, who both appeared to have given themselves too much to do at stages in their respective semi-final ties. It will be just the third time that two English clubs will compete in the same European final, and just the second since the Champions League was introduced, and if it is to be anything like the semi-finals it will be quite a match to witness. Liverpool will probably be the favourites, but as Tottenham showed against Ajax they are not be written off. The way both sides have reached the final suggests that both sides are worthy winners of the competition, it is going to be interesting to see who can handle the occasion the better, in what it is shaping up to be a mouthwatering final.
