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The UEFA Champions League is the biggest club tournament in the football and it stood by its reputation for yet another year. After a good year of passionate, emotional and intense football, we have our two finalists. On the 1st of June, it will be an all-English final as Tottenham Hotspur take on Liverpool for the iconic trophy.
In honesty, both teams deserve silverware this season but unfortunately, one will end this season without a trophy for another year. Mauricio Pochettino wasn't allowed to make any new signing and yet his side has finished in the top four of the Premier League. On the other hand, Liverpool has had a simply stunning season. Cruelly, they become the first team in PL history to amass more than 90 points and yet not win the title. Manchester City outran them and defended their title with 98 points on the board, one more than Liverpool.
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Champions League is the last chance for the Reds to lift a silverware this season. Surely, they would not want to finish as runners-up for the second consecutive season after getting beaten by Real Madrid in the finals last year.
Here, we take a look at the five best games from the current season in Europe's premier competition.
#5 Paris Saint-Germain 1-3 Manchester United (Aggregate 3-3, Quarterfinal)
An easy 2-0 win at Old Trafford induced complacency in the minds of the French's biggest club. A remarkable performance from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Manchester United condemned PSG to a humiliating home defeat and won their spot in the quarterfinals. Before kick-off, Solskjaer had to deal with a big quandary as many of his players were unfit and his star player, Paul Pogba, was suspended due to a red card in the first-leg.
Romelu Lukaku stepped up and scored the first goal of the night after just 111 seconds when Thilo Kehrer's back pass was intercepted by the Belgian. Another two errors by PSG's backline ensured the Red Devils progressed to the next round with the aid of the away-goal rule.
#4 Juventus 3-0 Atletico Madrid (Aggregate 3-2, Round of 16)
Renowned as the best defense of the world, Atletico Madrid, conceded three goals in a game to move out of the Champions League. In the first leg, Diego Simeone's side took a threatening 2-0 lead. Star-studded Juventus had a daunting task to not only beat Madrid but also score three past them.
With Gimenez and Godin as their center-back pairing and Oblak guarding the goal, the Rojiblanchos are a team that one does not expect to leak many goals and many thought their first-leg advantage will be more than enough.
But then, who can bet against the mighty Cristiano Ronaldo? The former Real Madrid star scored his eighth Champions League hat-trick to take Juventus into the quarter-finals. It was a terrific performance from the Old Lady at Turin but the gargantuan comeback was possible only because of their new summer signing.
#3 Manchester City 4-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Aggregate 4-4, Quarterfinal)
The second leg between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City was one of the most enthralling game in recent games. For the first time in Champions League history, five goals were scored inside the first 21 minutes of a match. Raheem Sterling scored a beauty of a goal in the 4th minute of the game but Heung-Min Son scored a quick brace to turn the tie in Spurs' favor.
Fernando Llorente became the unlikely hero after scoring the third away goal for Spurs and making the aggregate scoreline 4-4 with the visiting team going ahead on away goals. In response, Mauricio Pochettino, who was probably managing the biggest game of his career, made two defensive substitutions. The fourth referee showed five minutes of added time to make things more neurotic. But then an error from Eriksen gave Sergio Aguero the ball through a Bernardo Silva pass. The Argentine made a perfect cross to Raheem Sterling who poked the ball in making the crowd at the Etihad stadium go absolutely crazy.
Spurs dreams looked shattered and exasperated Pochettino threw his jacket away only to view the image at the big screen displaying "NO GOAL - OFFSIDE." The whole stadium was stunned into silence except the away end as Spurs made a great escape with the help of technology.
#2 Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona (Aggregate 4-2, Semifinal)
After a humbling loss against Roma a year back, Barcelona lost a big first-leg advantage yet again. After a 3-0 win at home, it looked impossible for the Merseyside club to score four without conceding but they achieved the impossible. Divock Origi was handed the start in place of injured Roberto Firmino and he justified Klopp's trust by scoring a brace, may be the most important brace of his career.
Andrew Robertson's injury at the half-time proved to be a blessing in disguise. Wijnaldum came on to replace him as Milner switched to the left-back spot. The Dutch midfielder took Liverpool into the final with a scintillating display. He scored two goals inside two minutes and lifted the spirits of an already bouncing crowd at Anfield.
With 4-3 aggregate victory, Liverpool completed one of the best comebacks of Champions League history to reach the finals for the second year running.
#1 Ajax 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Aggregate 3-3, Semifinal)
After trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Tottenham Hotspur went on to concede two goals inside 35 minutes in Amsterdam. In no time, Pochettino's men found themselves chasing a three-goal deficit. To make into their first ever Champions League final, the North London outfit required a Harry Kane-less-attack to score three goals without conceding themselves in the second. Lucas Moura scored the first goal in the 55th minute but still, winning the tie only seemed a fantasy.
It was his second goal, after four minutes, which made the game a fascinating one. Everyone thought that they had witnessed the comebacks of all comebacks a day before at Anfield but the Brazilian, definitely, had some other plans. Mauricio Pochettino threw Erik Lamela into the mix in place of Keiran Trippier as Spurs tried to achieve the unthinkable.
In the 96th minute, Dele Alli flicked the ball down to the edge of the box where Lucas Moura was present. The former PSG man slotted a precise finish into the corner past Onana to complete his hat-trick and set up an exciting summit clash with Liverpool in Madrid.
