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Men's Football Toby Alderweireld: If we win it, I think we deserve it as well

FOR purists who believe the Champions League should be a competition between champions, tomorrow night’s final between the second- and fourth-best teams in England is far from the tournament set up in 1955 as the European Champions Clubs’ Cup. 

Liverpool have not been champions of England for 29 years, Spurs not for 58 years, yet, by the end of the day in Madrid’s Metropolitano stadium, one of those teams will be the champions of Europe. 

Whoever wins will set a new record as European Cup winners who have gone the longest since winning their domestic league, a distinction currently held by Liverpool who won the 2005 Champions League 15 years after their last league title. 

The five-time European champions have gone seven years without winning a trophy. Spurs, playing in their first Champions League, final are looking for their first trophy in 11 years. 

Since the tournament’s second group phase was ended in 2003, no team has lost as many matches as this season’s two finalists and still won the trophy.

Nonetheless, defender Toby Alderweireld believes Spurs would be worthy champions. “If we win it, I think we deserve it as well. 

“If you see our route in the Champions League, it’s not been easy. If you see in the group, Barcelona and Inter; then Dortmund, first in Germany; [Manchester] City, first in England and Ajax, first in Holland … The mentality of the team showed us that we can achieve anything we want.”

After failing to win the league, despite gaining 97 points, Wales midfielder Ben Davies hopes Spurs can inflict more disappointment on last year’s beaten finalists. 

“You can’t take anything away from them, they’ve been superb this year. To finish the Premier League season on the points they have and not win it must have been a huge blow. It comes down to one 90 minutes now and it could be an amazing season for us.”

Having won the Copa Libertadores with Atletico Nacional in 2016, Colombian defender Davinson Sanchez could be the 10 in an elite group of players to be a club champion in Europe and South America. 

However, he feels the two competitions cannot compare in terms of prestige. “Every dream of every player is to play the Champions League, the Copa Libertadores can be important but the Champions League is massive.”

Only the eighth non-European manager to lead a team into a European Cup final, Mauricio Pochettino is aiming to become the first to win it since his compatriot Helenio Herrera in 1965. 

Ahead of the biggest match in club football, the Argentinian talked about the passion which he feels will be decisive. “Football is a contest of emotion. It’s not going to be a battle between Klopp and Pochettino or a tactical battle, it’s going to be about emotion and who is going to deal better with the emotional area.”

Following his own tearful reaction to their dramatic, last-gasp victory over Ajax in the semi-finals, Pochettino was asked how he would celebrate if Spurs win the final tonight. “I don’t know because I’m very spontaneous, I never prepare. I am not an actor. We’ll see what happens. Maybe I am so relaxed, maybe I cry, maybe jump, it’s difficult to know.”

With the fitness of captain Harry Kane dominating thoughts before the game, he was keen to impress that any of his 12 substitutes could make a decisive impact and wants to ask Uefa if every member of his matchday squad can be part of the pre-game photograph. 

“Maybe one from the bench can be more important. After, in history, on the wall are only the 11 players who start. That is so unfair and about that the players care a lot. It should be very good for us to have the possibility to have the 23 on the pitch to take the picture because in case we win, the 23 will all be superheroes, not only the 11.”

Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has experienced both the joy of winning and the pain of losing in major international finals with France. “The difference is massive between being a runner-up and being a winner. To win you are over the moon and to lose is very, very painful.

“After the final of the Euro [2016] when we lost, we felt so bad because we lost at home. At this moment, we could not expect that two years later we would win the World Cup. 

“Even after the World Cup, I could not expect to be involved in the Champions League final one year later. This is the beauty of football, sometimes it can be cruel, sometimes it can be the best.”

Lloris’s World Cup replica trophy is currently in the possession of Pochettino, a symbol of the close bond between player and coach. 

“It’s about sharing. I’m really grateful. In life or in your career, there is always some amazing meeting in terms of persons. It’s been the case with Mauricio. We have a fantastic opportunity in the Champions League. It’s the biggest trophy that you can win. When it’s front of you, you must do everything to get it.”

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