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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lee Wilmot

'We were just hoofing it' - Liverpool's Champions League final game plan vs Spurs explained

The Champions League final was not a great spectacle.

Two English teams went head-to-head in Madrid, with Liverpool prevailing 2-0 over Tottenham in a poor contest.

A Mohamed Salah penalty just two minutes in and a Divock Origi strike three minutes from time won the biggest title in Europe for the Reds.

In between those efforts was little to write home about as Tottenham sought a route back into the contest, only to be thwarted by Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and the rest of the Liverpool back-line.

And in an interview with ESPN , the PFA Player of the Year for 2018/19 explained why it was a "s*** final".

Van Dijk said: "It was pure relief taking over my body [when Origi scored]. We were under pressure before that, and I thought 'finally, it's over'.

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"We were dropping back, we were defending like mad. At one point, we were just hoofing the ball forward, but it was the mental aspect.

"Usually we would build from the back, play our own football, but going 1-0 up after two minutes [through Mohamed Salah's penalty] is just a crazy situation in such a big game.

"Everyone can say what they want about how s*** the final was, but for us it didn't matter after Divock scored the goal.

"There were so many emotions, but the first one was relief."

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