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Champions League | Final
Jun 1, 2019 at 8pm UK
 
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0-2

 
FT(HT: 0-1)
Salah (2' pen.), Origi (87')

Toby Alderweireld recalls previous Champions League final defeat

:Headline: Toby Alderweireld recalls previous Champions League final defeat: ID:360641: from db_amp
The Belgian lost in the showpiece in 2014 with Atletico Madrid.

Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld is not willing to feel the pain of another Champions League final defeat.

The Belgium international was part of the Atletico Madrid side who lost 4-1 in extra-time to their city rivals Real in 2014.

He came on as a late substitute and was on the pitch when Sergio Ramos scored a 90th-minute equaliser, before Real ran riot in the additional period.

The pain of that loss has left Alderweireld "wanting it more than anyone else" when he gets a second bite of the cherry as Spurs take on Liverpool on Saturday.

Fittingly, it is at the home of his former club, Atletico's new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, and winning is the only thing on his mind.

"We were so close to winning it," he said. "In the 90th minute or something Ramos scored so, yeah, the feeling of losing, not winning it, is very hard.

"I will take this feeling to the final and show I want it more than anyone else.

"Everyone is saying it is unbelievable about Spurs getting to the final but we're not happy with playing a final, we want to win it.

Toby Alderweireld, right, lost the 2014 Champions League final with Atletico Madrid (Nick Potts/PA)

"That's the mentality we need to have on Saturday."

There was little time to process the defeat for him, though, as he flew out of Lisbon that night to join up with his international team-mates ahead of the World Cup.

He did wonder whether the opportunity to play in the biggest club competition game would come around again.

"It is difficult because you are 25 years old," he said. "That night I flew to Belgium because we had the World Cup coming up, so there was no time to grieve.

"A lot of players have played in really big games, World Cups and stuff like this so we know what to do.

"Of course the tension will get more as the week goes on but we have the maturity in our group and that is not a problem.

"We will try to do the same things as normal. It's not that we're all 18 years old, we've been to semi-finals at World Cups, some have played in the final.

"You try to do it as a normal game because that is the best way, I think."

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