Champions League final: Georginio Wijnaldum explains why Liverpool are not favourites against Tottenham
Liverpool finished 26 points above Tottenham, beating them home and away in the league
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Your support makes all the difference.Georginio Wijnaldum has insisted that Liverpool will not start Saturday’s Champions League final as favourites, despite finishing above Tottenham Hotspur domestically this season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side earned a club record total of 97 points as Premier League runners-up this season, 26 clear of fourth-placed Tottenham.
Liverpool also beat Mauricio Pochettino’s men home and away, winning at Wembley but requiring a late own goal to take all three point at Anfield.
Both games finished 2-1 and, given that they were close contests, Wijnaldum does not believe that Saturday’s final at the Wanda Metropolitano can be easily predicted.
“I don’t really think about favourites because in a game everything can happen. In 90 or 95 minutes two teams will make a chance to win the game,” he said.
“Everyone makes us favourites because we finished higher than them in the league and won two times against them, but if you look at the second game in the second half, it was quite difficult.
“For a long time it was looking like the game would end 1-1 but we had a little bit of luck for the second goal.
“If you compare the teams to each other, it is 50-50 if you can win the game. That’s why it’s important to start the game well, focus and give everything we have.”
Whereas this will be Tottenham’s first European Cup final, it will be Liverpool’s second in as many years.
The disappointment of losing to Real Madrid in Kiev last season has fuelled their passage to the final this year, and Wijnaldum believes that experience can push them over the line.
“What happened to us last year will help us this year. We experience one final more. Everything can happen in the final,” he said.
“I don’t think we are that nervous. We take it more as an experience than something we should be scared of.
“Personally I don’t really have pressure. For me it is just an opportunity to win a title. We just have to see how we react as a team.”
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