These two teams that reached the Champions League Final 2019 have beaten some kind of odds, delivering stunning comeback victories to shape up a compelling championship in three weeks: It's Liverpool vs. Tottenham, a match that seemed virtually impossible last week with both teams down after Leg 1.
First, Liverpool pulled off the unlikely, beating Barcelona 4-0 in Leg 2. Wednesday, Tottehnam faced nearly impossible odds with a three-goal deficit at halftime in their semifinal game against Ajax. Both teams did the unthinkable, shaping up a Champions League Final worth watching.
When is the UEFA Champions League Final 2019 date, time and TV channels?
Liverpool vs. Tottenham date: June 1, 2019
Time: 3 p.m. Eastern Time
Place: The Wanda Metropolitano, home to Atletico Madrid (63,500 capacity)
TV Channels: NT, UniMas, Univision Deportes Network, FuboTV, PlayStation Vue and Sling TV, Hulu Live and B/R Live.
Tottenham players said after their stunning victory Wednesday that they were inspired by Liverpool's similarly stunning upset victory the day before.
"We saw Liverpool last night — it goes to show it's not over until it is over," Tottenham fullback Danny Rose said, according to the AP.
Here's how it happened, according to the Associated Press:
Lucas Moura completed a hat trick in the sixth minute of injury time as Tottenham rallied to beat Ajax 3-2 and reach its first Champions League final, ending a remarkable run by the young Dutch team that had knocked off some of Europe's biggest clubs along the way.
It was a rally that was eerily similar to the one the previous night at Anfield, where Liverpool erased a 3-0 deficit from the first leg by beating Barcelona 4-0 at home.
In Amsterdam, Moura nearly single-handedly helped Tottenham pull off a similar feat.
Ajax seemed to have the two-legged semifinal wrapped up by halftime after teenage captain Matthijs de Ligt and Hakim Ziyech netted to put it 2-0 up at the break — and 3-0 on aggregate.
But Moura scored twice in a four-minute span to put the visitors one goal from going through 3-3 on aggregate thanks to the away goals rule.
After Jan Vertonghen's header hit the crossbar in the 87th minute, that goal finally arrived when Moura struck again deep into injury time. Dele Alli laid the ball off for the Brazilian as he streaked into the area and his low shot crept inside the right post to complete another improbable victory.
"It's impossible to explain what I'm feeling in this moment," Moura said. "We always believed it was possible, and we gave everything on the pitch. I think we deserved this moment."
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