Kieran Tripper has admitted that the Tottenham dressing room was "confident" that they were going to win the 2019 Champions League final against Liverpool.
Spurs' run to the showpiece event in Madrid was filled with drama. They qualified from the 'group of death' having picked up one point from their first three games, knocked out Manchester City in a dramatic quarter-final tie, and killed off Ajax's fairytale story after a last-gasp hat-trick from Lucas Moura.
Trippier, whose last game for Spurs came in the final before joining Atletico Madrid, revealed on the True Geordie Podcast that he was convinced he was going to become a European champion, but that the decision to award Liverpool a controversial penalty after 25 seconds 'killed the game' in an eventual 2-0 loss.
"We thought we were winning [the final]. I'm not going to lie, we thought we were winning." the now-Newcastle man insisted.
"The way the City game went, the Ajax game went, we thought...we felt confident. And then two minutes into the game or whatever it was, they get a penalty, and I think that just killed the game.
"But even in the game - ok it wasn't the prettiest of games, Champions League final you're expecting fireworks, it weren't the best to watch - but I thought there were moments where we were on top of them. And then obviously [Divock] Origi comes on and bags that second goal and it's finished, the game is done."
It was then put to Trippier that Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs team of the 2018/19 season was different from the iterations that came before and after, but the England international pushed back and revealed the sides from the 2015/16 and 2016/17 campaigns that challenged for the Premier League title were special too.
"Especially when Poch was there with us, we were machines. Not just the [starting] eleven, everyone was just machines with the way we trained," Trippier added.
"But especially at White Hart Lane, we were tough to beat, especially those two years where we were challenging for the Prem.
"I think the game that killed us the year Leicester won the league was when they beat us at home, Robert Huth scores. If we win that game, it changes everything. I'm not saying we would have won the league but for sure it changes something."
Source : 90min