Klopp: Champions League final is meeting of teams with biggest heart
Jürgen Klopp believes the Champions League final will be contested by the two teams with the greatest desire and character in the competition after Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur both completed dramatic comebacks this week to reach the Madrid spectacle.
The Reds pulled off the greatest turnaround in Anfield's rich history on Tuesday night, wiping away Barcelona's 3-0 first-leg advantage and winning the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate.
Spurs' spot in the June 1 final, meanwhile, was booked 24 hours later when Lucas Moura netted a 96th-minute winner after Mauricio Pochettino's men needed three goals against Ajax at half-time in the second leg.
And both sides managed to defy the odds against elite opposition by sheer force of will, according to the Liverpool manager.
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Klopp told a press conference on Friday: "It was brilliant, congratulations to Poch. What Ajax did in the whole campaign is just incredible, unbelievable.
"I would say in the final now are the two teams with the biggest heart in the competition, I would say.
"The most talented group is out in the semi-finals because Ajax, age group wise, so many wonderful players running around and they had to pay a price a little bit for the intensity of the game and for the good decisions Mauricio did at half-time.
"Bringing on [Fernando] Llorente obviously was a masterstroke and having the direction of the game and all that stuff. They changed it completely and that’s football as well.
"I watched the game obviously and we have the same problems with family and friends booking hotels and stuff like that for the final, obviously for us it's the same. My son told me, 'Probably the Ajax fans start now booking at half-time' because each minute can be decisive price-wise.
"That's it, that's football. The reaction was brilliant, it was outstanding. What Tottenham did, we have three weeks’ time to get angry on them again, but for that night I really thought they deserved it and it was a big one."