Tottenham vs Liverpool result: Reds win Champions League with goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi

Tottenham 0-2 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp's side clinched a sixth European cup in Madrid

Liverpool defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in a tense, nerve-wrought game in Madrid to clinch the Champions League title.

Jurgen Klopp’s side took an early lead after a disastrous start for Spurs when Moussa Sissoko inadvertently blocked Sadio Mane’s cross with his arm after just 26 seconds, allowing Mohamed Salah to rifle home from the spot.

The early goal seemed to suck the momentum from the game as Liverpool withheld in attack while Spurs struggled to create anything in midfield.

Spurs threw everything they had at the Reds in the second half, coming close through Lucas Moura, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, but with just three minutes of normal time remaining Divock Origi became Liverpool’s unlikely hero once again, sliding home the loose ball from a late corner to draw an end to the angst and secure Liverpool’s sixth European cup.

Here are five things we learned:

A catastrophic, off-script start

The debate raged with all the impassioned barneying of a cabinet meeting; Liverpool’s formidable front three vs a flailing Kieran Trippier; Son Heung-min tearing at Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jurgen Klopp’s harrowing past in finals vs Mauricio Pochettino’s inexperience. A final fought upon a technical battleground.

Yet all those premature calculations and hours of astute analysis were cast out after a mere 26 seconds at the Wanda Metropolitano. Sadio Mane swept in behind Spurs’ still awakening defence, dithered as his teammates surged towards the box before attempting to dink a ball towards the far post. And in one awfully casual lift of Moussa Sissoko’s arm, he clotheslined the ball out of the air. Yes, it was harsh. Yes, it cushioned against his chest. Yet it was so overt, occurring in such clear space, it was impossible for the referee to ignore. Mohamed Salah thrashed the penalty into the roof of the net, and all those scripted blueprints turned to purple blushes.

Salah scores from the spot (Getty) (Getty Images)

Liverpool suffocate Spurs in wheezy first-half

The early goal set a strange and subdued atmosphere about the muggy stadium; a goal that did not so much as break the early tension but apply a smothering layer over it.

Liverpool’s usually fluid attacks bore a constrained and curdled quality, not quite willing to hurl themselves into all-out attack due to their early lead to protect. Instead, they suffocated Spurs in the midfield, forfeiting 60 per cent possession in exchange for forcing Pochettino’s side into staccato passing forward and back, funnelling attacks down the wings where Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier were caught up in an urgency to create, floundering when the final ball presented itself.

On one rare occasion that Tottenham did break beyond Liverpool’s line with a three-on-three, Alli fretted and attempted to force a pass through to Son that rolled into Allison’s arms with slow-motion quality, summing up a suffering, anti-climactic first-half.

Kane struggles to have an impact (PA)

Harry Kane and Harry Winks return with differing success

Kane, who was nursed through blue medical gloves and plaster casts to be fit for this final, insisted he was fit ahead of the fixture yet Pochettino still surprised many by selecting his talisman. But for the first-half, he was so behind the pace he might as well have still been carrying a limp like Keyser Soze. In total, the England captain completed just four passes and didn’t muster a single dribble or shot in the first-half, hopelessly attempting to drop deep and cast an influence on the game to no avail.

But, of course, the reason for Kane’s rusty inclusion was that single decisive moment, the lethal finish that he makes seem so innate, yet it never came. As Tottenham grew into the game in the second-half, he remained a fraction behind the pace, when the chances fell, they were never to him. Ultimately, despite all his heroic efforts, the success he’s carried on his shoulders, he could not drag his side home one final time.

Weary bodies leave a final played out with stunted tempo

Much was made of the three-week delay ahead of tonight’s final. The chance to refresh and recuperate, to rest tired legs after a gruelling season and their heroic semi-final comebacks. Yet, the break – combined with the stifling heat – instead seemed to bring about a withered hesitancy, slowing the pace of the game and preventing both teams from kicking into a further gear as it wore on.

Klopp was forced into an uncharacteristic early substitution for an absent Firmino. Next, Gigi Wijnaldum walked to be replaced by James Milner. On the stroke of 70 minutes, Sissoko, Tripper and Rose all lay on the turf, clutching various strains, bodies strewn across the floor. A season that has taken its toll on both sets of sides, desperately eeking out every last drop, chasing a tempo their bodies wouldn’t allow, frequenting a well that had all but run dry.

Origi celebrates scoring Liverpool’s second (Reuters)

Spurs bang the door but nobody answers

Tottenham dominated much of the second-half as Liverpool reeled back and coiled to counter, happy to rely on Virgil van Dijk’s bulwark shoulders. But it was only once the game entered its nerve-riddled final quarter that Spurs finally got their knuckles to the door. The game loosened, the gaps opened and Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and substitute Lucas Moura all had their chances; the latter forcing his compatriot Allison into a fine reflex save. Moments later and the goalkeeper acrobatically covered Christian Eriksen’s cross-come-shot.

Spurs banged at the door, but nobody was home, and just as Liverpool became increasingly error-strewn it was Divock Origi – the hero of the semi-final – who condemned Tottenham’s hopes. The corner whipped in, Spurs panicked as the ball ricocheted around the box, and it fell kindly to the Belgian. He took one sharp glance at the corner and struck his way as the unlikely hero into history’s book once again.