The defense has won Liverpool The Champions League

In the end, all that it took Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool to win a final was another blank sheet. Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino, three stars of Liverpool, as well as the hype around their offensive duo Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, the real stars of Liverpool in the victory of the final of the Champions League against Tottenham Saturday the three players furthest away from their opponent's goal.

The performances of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Alisson allowed to validate the liked crazy snapshots of your types of da, namely "to bend but not to break" and "the defense wins championships". In this case, they were accurate. The final of the Liverpool Champions League was defined in particular by the ability of his defense to face the Spurs attacks and parry them. Thanks to Klopp's sensible tactical change this season and the considerable talent of the three leading defenders, Liverpool has managed to give it a simple appearance.

The subtle tactical change of Klopp was as masterly as necessary. Although the German coach is known for the relentless pressure of his teams, this season, Klopp's men have distinguished themselves by a deeper and more static defense. Running like lunatics harassing the running back for 90 minutes is a great way to win games, but it's also incredibly physically demanding. By making Liverpool more comfortable and absorbing the pressure, Klopp was able to keep the team fresh throughout the long season and offer them a new way to win tough games.

The results, both in the big games and overall, speak for themselves. Liverpool had the cleanest sheets in the Premier League this season and also conceded the fewest goals. There were some big slippages (including the 3-0 defeat away from Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals), but even against Manchester City, the Reds scored just two goals in both. leagues. Games. After years of defensive mediocrity, you could argue that Liverpool had the best defense in Europe this year.

This turnaround coincided with, and is largely due to, the arrival of van Dijk in January 2018 in Southampton. Although the big Dutch cost about 85 million euros of signature, it was well worth every penny spent. The Premier League player of the year won the men 's title of Saturday' s match with another stable performance at the back. Time and time again, van Dijk blocked the Spurs' attacks with his strength, speed, positioning and his sense of patience and timing out of the ordinary. (He's now gone 64 games without anyone having a successful dribble in front of him!) This perfect block of a dangerous pass from Son Heung-min was only one example of his excellence. :

And even! You can reasonably say that van Dijk had the least impact of the aforementioned trio. His central defense partner, Matip, deserves as much, if not more, the merit of Saturday's triumph. The Cameroonian is discreetly developed to become the ideal companion of the most famous van Dijk during the last stages of the season. Matip was particularly brilliant against Barcelona in his famous 4-0 win last month. And Saturday, he was even better. While van Dijk beat five respectable releases, Matip, crippled, attacked Spurs with a total of 14:

Matip may not have the imposing physical impression of van Dijk, but he does not need it. His awareness of the position is significantly improved and he uses every square inch of his sleek frame 6 feet 5 inches to dominate the flight. He even sometimes steps forward to help the attack. On Saturday, Matip created a chance after a failed corner, a chance to fall on Divock Origi, who added to his list of unexpected critical goals this season to seal the win:

Although van Dijk and Matip brought thunder, Alisson's less brilliant clues were just as important. The Liverpool goalkeeper made eight massive saves against the Spurs. The most impressive of them was this two handed palm of a dangerous free kick by Christian Eriksen:

Even though none of Alisson's rescuers was exceptionally difficult in itself, his reliability in goals was arguably the difference between this result that won the title and the painful defeat in that same match there was a year. Compare Alisson's performance to last season's final, when Liverpool-era goalkeeper Loris Karius had two screams that basically cost the Reds the title. (In fairness, both of Karius' mistakes occurred after an undiagnosed concussion during the match.) Replacing this performance with Alisson's steady presence throughout the season was a boon to the Pool Boys. While the Spurs will surely show their terrible shot on Saturday, it would have taken something special to beat Alisson.

You can try to explain the success of the race in the Champions League Liverpool by telling a few anecdotes: Barcelona is trapped in the semifinal, Mané sends a ball directly to the arm of Moussa Sissoko in the final, the Big Organi Game. But when it mattered most, against a team capable of making an impressive comeback, it is the strong back of Liverpool that won the day. Not bad for a team that could not stop anyone from scoring just 18 months ago.