It has been a fair few years since the first and last Champions League Final featuring two English teams. 2008 was the year and it was northern side Manchester United vs southern/London side Chelsea, now eleven years on it’s a similar theme.
With the northern side being Liverpool and the southern/London side being Tottenham Hotspur. Back then it was Chelsea’s first time in a Champions League final and this time around it will be Spurs’ first ever appearance.
I know a couple Spurs’ fans from my time leaving in London, one of them as been a season ticket holder for the past 20 years but still couldn’t get a ticket for tonight’s final. Apparently he didn’t have enough point, credits or whatever to apply for one of the 16,000 tickets.
I find that a bit harsh myself, yes priority should go to those that have been or at least applied to previous European away games, but there can’t have been 16,000 surely?
Not that that is enough of an allocation anyway in the Wanda Metropolitano stadium which holds around 67,000 in total. Which means both sets of supporters have a combined total of 32,000 tickets and the remaining 35,000 have gone elsewhere and to co-orporate. Still, it’s not as bad as the allocation Arsenal and Chelsea fans got for their Europa League Final in Baku on Wednesday night.
How often do certain teams or fans get the chance to go to a massive final like this after supporting a team your whole life and you’re denied because of a poor allocation of tickets. Simply not on in our opinion.
Onto the final tonight anyway, as a neutral supporter, but wanting Spurs to win, I’ll be watching it at home with my kids and I wouldn’t change that. Simply can’t doing with being in a packed pub and trying to get to the bar etc. Although I have heard the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has sold all 63,000 tickets for all their seats tonight as they are showing the game live on six massive screens.
Who will win?
Liverpool are the clear favourites and you can understand why, they have had an incredible season in the league, losing just one game to Manchester City who they finished second to on the last day of the Premier League season.
Spurs have met Liverpool once before in a European Cup competition, but it was way back in 1972/73 season when the pair met in the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Both sides won a leg each for the game to finish 2-2 overall but Liverpool went through on the away goals rule and they followed that up by then winning the 1973 UEFA Cup Final against Borussia Monchengladbach.
