Whether you like him or not, Graham Souness remains an important figure in England because of his appearances as a pundit, which is why L’Equipe turned to him for an interview ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham.
It also helps that he spent time at both teams, winning an FA Youth Cup with Spurs back in 1970 before spending six years at Liverpool between 1978-84, winning five Football League First Divisions and three European Cups with the Reds.
Despite being still fond of his Tottenham days (he’s still in touch with most of that youth squad, planning a pub reunion on June 6th to commemorate their trophy win), the 66-year-old believes Jürgen Klopp will walk away with the trophy on Saturday, besting Mauricio Pochettino once again.
When asked who he thinks will win, he said: “The Reds. If you look past the fact they had to abandon the league title to Manchester City, they’re ready to go: they only lost one game in the league this season, they’ve globally played better football than Tottenham and have the experience from last year’s final.
“However, they need to be careful because Spurs are miracle survivors in this Champions League: they’ve got nothing to lose and their attack is a constant threat”.
No fence sitting for Mr Souness, it seems, even if he does try to clamber back on it towards the end to maybe cover his back, just in case things don’t go his way.
Both Liverpool and Tottenham produced great comebacks to end up in Saturday’s final, with Klopp’s men overturning a 3-0 deficit to see off Barcelona while Spurs produced a stunning Lucas Moura inspired second half performance to scrape past neutral fan favourites Ajax.
