Jose Mourinho: Liverpool pragmatic but quality in Champions League final not good
Jose Mourinho insists Liverpool’s midfielders rarely got close to their attackers in a Champions League final he deemed „not good“ in terms of entertainment.
Mo Salah’s controversial penalty and Divock Origi’s late second gave Liverpool a 2-0 victory over Tottenham in Madrid to earn their sixth European crown, and Jurgen Klopp’s first in his third Champions League final.
But Mourinho, speaking alongside Arsene Wenger on beIN Sports, insisted that if this had not been a Champions League final, the match would have been labelled „not good,“ adding that Liverpool’s unusually pragmatic approach saw them through.
The former Manchester United manager, sacked by the club in December, said: „I think the three midfield Liverpool players, if we are going to see the wave of their positioning, they played on a straight line in front of a back four.
„You don’t remember Henderson, Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Milner being close to the three attacking players, to have one arrive in the box, nothing. They stayed in a block of seven, they were very pragmatic, very solid defensively.
„I think also that if this match is not the Champions League final, if it is a Premier League match, or the final of the League Cup, we would all say the game was not good.
„Because it is a Champions League final, it has this emotional side of it, but I think the quality of the game was not good, and Tottenham have to be frustrated, because they lost and they feel that they are better than this. These big moments are when you have to be at your best level.“
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Liverpool put in an „average“ display, and suggested Spurs’ psychological approach may have held them back.
Wenger said: „At the end of the day the game was decided by two set pieces.
„I personally believe it was a very, very average Liverpool, and that there was more in this game for Tottenham. They lacked a bit of killer instinct, and I felt it was more linked with the psychological side than the real quality.
„I felt like they believed but without really 100 per cent believing, Tottenham tonight.“
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