On June 1, in the capital city of Spain, a couple of streaks will fall by the wayside in the UEFA Champions League Final. The home to Atletico Madrid will see England win its first UCL since Chelsea beat Bayern Munich in 2012.
This match-up, between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, will see a trophy drought end for one of the two clubs. It will also see either the first trophy of the Mauricio Pochettino era at Tottenham, or (pending Championship Sunday’s results) the Jurgen Klopp era at Liverpool.
Unless Manchester City loses or draws AND Liverpool wins on Sunday, the Reds’ silverware drought will continue on until at least the European final in Madrid.
Their last trophy came via the 2011-12 League Cup. Regarding Europe, well you know the song “we won it five times,” and those five times are ’05 (over AC Milan in Istanbul) ’84 (AS Roma, in Rome), ’81 (Real Madrid, in Paris), ’78 (over Club Brugge in London) and in ’77 ( over Borussia Mönchengladbach) in Rome. So while the Reds advanced to the final last season, where they lost to Real Madrid, their last Euro glory came 14 years ago.
As for Spurs, Pochettino said that he might go out on top if they win the UCL. He may call it a day after that.
Spurs have never won the Champions League in their entire history, but they did claim the Winner’s Cup in 1963 and the Europa League in 1972 and 1984.
Tottenham’s most recent trophy was the League Cup in ’08
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, also contributes to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.