Tottenham Hotspur take on Liverpool at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, in only the second all-English Champions League Final. 

This will be the first time that Mauricio Pochettino and Tottenham will appear in a European Cup Final. 

This will be Jurgen Klopp's third attempt at achieving the biggest prize in club football. Klopp took Borussia Dortmund to the final in 2013, but that ended in Wembley heartbreak to fellow German powerhouse Bayern Munich. Klopp will also be looking to banish the demons of last year, as he took Liverpool to the final only to lose 3-1 to Real Madrid. 

Liverpool will be looking to win their sixth European Cup and their first since that memorable night in Istanbul in 2005. 

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The Road to Madrid

Tottenham Hotspur

Group stage place- 2nd 

Tottenham have quite an incredible route to the final. Spurs were just 12 minutes away from a group stage exit, but they were able to turn it around against PSV with Harry Kane double at Wembley. Spurs secured their progression thanks to a Lucas Moura strike at the Nou Camp, to earn the North London side the vital point they needed, as Inter Milan were held by PSV at the San Siro. 

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Last 16- Tottenham 4-0 Borussia Dortmund

Spurs won the first leg at Wembley, 3-0, thanks to goals from Heung-Min Son, Jan Vertonghen and Fernando Llorente. Spurs put on a magnificent defensive display at the Signal Iduna Park, and thanks to a strike from Harry Kane,  they walked away with a convincing aggregate win. 

Quarter Final- Tottenham 4-4 Manchester City (Spurs go through on away goals)

Tottenham won the first leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, 1-0, with a goal from Son. There was bad news though for Spurs, as Kane picked up an injury which kept him out for the rest of the league season. The second leg was full of drama. There were five goals in the opening 21 minutes of this one to put City 3-2 up on the night. Sergio Aguero scored mid-way through the second half, to put City up for the first time on aggregate.

Fernando Llorente then scored a controversial goal from a Kieran Trippier corner with just over 15 minutes left on the clock. Then in the dying embers, Raheem Sterling looked to have won it for City, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside by VAR. 

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Semi-Final- Tottenham 3-3 Ajax ( Spurs go through on away goals) 

Spurs faced this season's surprise package Ajax in the semi-finals. Ajax were the first team to walk away from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with a victory thanks to a very early strike from Donny Van De Beek.

Ajax looked like they had wrapped up the tie back in Amsterdam as goals from Mathias De Ligt and Hakim Ziyech gave the Dutch side a 3-0 lead with just 45 minutes left of the tie. Moura though pulled out a second-half hat-trick, including a strike in the 96th minute to send Spurs to the final. 

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Liverpool

Group Stage- 2nd

The Reds also suffered some scares in the group stage as they opened the campaign with back to back defeats to PSG and Red Star Belgrade in Matchday 4 and 5 left them needing a victory over Napoli at Anfield and they needed a clean sheet as well. Liverpool did the job and progressed through on goals scored. 

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Round of 16- Liverpool 3-1 Bayern Munich 

Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at Anfield by the Bavarian giants but, Bayern were no much for the Reds back in Germany. A double from Sadio Mane and a goal from Virgil Van Dijk gave Liverpool the win. An own goal from Joel Matip after Mane's opener gave the Germans some hope but Liverpool steamrolled them in the second half to set up a Quarter-Final with Porto. 

Quarter-Final- Liverpool 6-1 Porto

Liverpool easily brushed Porto aside in the Quarter-finals. Liverpool won the first leg 2-0 at Anfield thanks to goals from Naby Keita and Roberto Firminio.

The Reds, then comprehensively over in Portugal, 4-1. Firminio, Mane and Van Dijk were on the scoresheet again as well as Mohammed Salah. Eder Militiao pulled a goal back for Porto but it was merely a footnote in the tie. 

Semi-Final- Barcelona 3-4 Liverpool

Barcelona took a comprehensive lead in this tie after winning the opening leg 3-0 at the Nou Camp. A Lionel Messi brace and a strike from former Red Luis Suarez gave Barcelona what seemed like an unassailable lead. Liverpool then performed another miracle like Istanbul when they returned to Anfield.

Divock Origi opened the scoring after just seven minutes. Georginio Wijnaldum then scored a brace in the space of three second-half minutes to blow the tie wide open. Origi then bagged the winner with just over 10 minutes to go, thanks to an inventive corner from Trent Alexander-Arnold. 

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The game to define an Era

Both Liverpool and Tottenham have come a long way since their respective managers took over in the last half-decade. 

Tottenham had struggled to finish in a Europa League place in the season prior to Pochettino's arrival but have progressed leaps and bounds since then. 

Pochettino reached the League Cup Final in his first season at the club but did lose that 2-0 to Chelsea. This final is the first Pochettino has reached since then but the Argentine has reached two FA Cup Semi-finals and a League Cup Semi-final.

Pochettino's philosophy is all about bleeding in young talent from the youth academy, whilst also picking up hidden gems in the transfer market. However, the biggest criticism of this Tottenham side is that they bottle it at the last minute and can't get over the line. The fact, Tottenham have not signed a player in over a year shows the faith Pochettino has in his team and his faith looks to have been rewarded.

If Tottenham are able to win this final and win their first major trophy in over 10 years, Pochettino will definitely be among the top managers in Europe but if they don't win, will they forever be known as the nearly men. 

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Klopp joined Liverpool just after the start of the 15/16 season, after a disappointing start under Brendan Rodgers. Klopp guided Liverpool to the Europa League Final in that season but they were bested by Unai Emery's Sevilla 3-1.

Klopp has made sure Liverpool have competed at Europe's top table in every full season he has been at the club, which culminated in last season's run to the final in Kiev. 

Klopp has improved Liverpool in every department and has crafted possibly the best front three in Europe. He has also improved the defence massively by acquiring Van Dijk from Southampton, Allison from Roma and Andrew Robertson from Hull City.

The criticism levelled at Tottenham has also been thrust at Liverpool, Klopp is yet to win a trophy at Liverpool and if he does lose this final as well, will his time with the Reds be up. 

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Team News 

The big news for Tottenham is that Harry Kane is back to full fitness. Harry Winks, Davinson Sanchez, Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier have all recovered into for the showpiece in Madrid. 

Roberto Firminio is ready according to Klopp, but the German gave no indication if he will start or not. Naby Keita though did not win his battle to be fit for the final and is the only absentee for the Reds.

The game kicks off at 20:00 BST from the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. 

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