Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Classics reveal magic of the Champions League

Two of the most incredible games of football were played out to decide the finalists of this season’s competition, with Liverpool and Tottenham proving worthy victors over Barcelona and Ajax respectively.

The Champions’ League is a strange competition. The opening stages are now so tedious that it may as well not start until the spring.

Those mundane group offerings, weighted so heavily in favour of the ‘big’ clubs, seem to drag on for months on end. Surprises are so few and far between that it is rarely worth bothering with. At least Liverpool and Spurs kept it relatively lively by making a drama of the qualification process through the groups, but elsewhere it was dull as ditch water. But then, come the new year, there is finally some meaning to the fixtures.

Ajax’s brilliant dismantling of Real Madrid in the second leg of their Round of 16 fixture caught the headlines. Manchester United also pulled off an unlikely comeback in Paris, which went a long way to ensuring Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the Old Trafford post on a permanent basis.

The match of the tournament so far came in the quarter-finals at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City beat Spurs 4-3, only to go out on away goals. It was a ridiculously open game played at such frantic pace, there was barely a chance to draw breath. Spurs deserved huge credit for daring to strike at City’s heart, knowing they would open the game up. The dramatic scoreline told only half the story, with Raheem Sterling’s late ‘winner’ ruled out for offside via VAR.

The beauty of the two semi-final second legs this week was that Liverpool and Spurs took very different routes in overcoming 3-0 deficits.

The first match was a contemporary classic, the sort Anfield has earned a reputation for. Jurgen Klopp’s side came out snarling and snapping at the heels of Barcelona. They set about them with controlled aggression and, when Divock Origi gave them an early lead, the Catalan side were never able to gain a foothold in the match.

Singling out individuals perhaps takes away from the collective effort. But Fabinho had his best game for the club yet. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Origi were up there too. And it was Sadio Mane who excelled the most, producing the quality alongside the sustained levels of running over an hour and a half that defied belief.

Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah were barely missed. The difficulty of Liverpool’s task was not necessarily the deficit, but that it had to be clawed back without conceding a goal. It left no room for error.

Liverpool fans have become accustomed to great comebacks, but this one raised the bar. To see the hardy veteran James Milner, tears streaming down his face as he acknowledged the applause from The Kop at the end, brought home the magnitude of the achievement.

Spurs clearly thought the best way back was to go 3-0 down too.

They looked a shadow of themselves as Ajax took an early two-goal lead in front of their noisy following. How disheartening it must have been for Mauricio Pochettino, who has somehow kept his team competitive all season despite its lack of depth compared with the top end Premier League competitors.

With talisman Harry Kane watching on from the stands, it fell to Lucas Moura to produce the 45 minutes of his life. All three of the Brazilian’s goals were superbly taken. The second was a lesson in adroitness, seizing on the opportunity after Fernando Llorente had collapsed in front of goal when botching the chance of the match.

Spurs showed a different kind of resilience to Liverpool. There was less of the dominating energy and power. Instead, there was a belief in playing the way they know to the end. Danny Rose brilliantly began the move for the opening goal with a little nutmeg to beat his marker on his own 18 yard box. For the third, the last gasp long ball forward needed Llorente, Deli Alli and Moura to know exactly what moves to make.

Even amidst the carnage there was composure. It was all too much for Pochettino, who broke down in tears celebrating on the pitch at the end.

It is impossible not to be happy for him. He has worked patiently though the budget constraints brought on by the move to the new stadium, only occasionally hinting at the need for more investment on the pitch. His dignity throughout the winter when he was linked with a move to Manchester United was typical of his class.

Nobody at the club deserves this final more than him.

That is twice Spurs have progressed on the away goals rule now. It is an outdated and redundant rule which needs to be scrapped. Back in the early stages of the competition, when travel across Europe could take several days and the visiting team was often met with conditions quite different to those they found at home, there was perhaps a purpose to the rule.

Today, with every pitch virtually identical, travel times greatly reduced and comfortable facilities to be found in every corner of the continent, there is no need to bother with the away goals rule. It serves no fair purpose.

So to the final in Madrid. Who would have thought that teams led from the front by Origi and Llorente – with Salah and Kane nowhere to be seen and Lionel Messi on the plane home – could get to a Champions’ League final?

They are there now, and we can only hope the drama continues for this final chapter.