Tottenham face Liverpool in Saturday's Champions League final
Saturday 1 June 2019 21:40, UK
We take a look at the remarkable odds Tottenham have defied en route to making the Champions League final against Liverpool.
Mauricio Pochettino's men have been doubted throughout their route to Madrid and, indeed, all but written off on various occasions.
They head into Saturday's showdown as 6/4 shots to lift the trophy and 16/5 to win inside 90 minutes, but were as long as 66/1 at one point during their journey to the Spanish capital, which can be highlighted through the price of a Liverpool v Tottenham Champions League final reaching 500/1 at one point, on October 24 2018.
Here's a look at how their most precarious positions were reflected by Sky Bet's Champions League odds...
As they ended a second transfer window with no signings and faced delays in moving into their new stadium, few considered Spurs major contenders for Europe's top prize.
Their odds drifted from 22/1 to 25/1 after they were placed in the same group as Barcelona, Inter Milan and PSV.
Then, with just one point to their name after playing each of their group opponents, Sky Bet pushed them out to 66/1 to lift the trophy and 7/2 just to qualify for the knockout stages.
The improbable looked impossible when Luuk de Jong's early effort saw PSV leading for 76 minutes at Wembley, but Harry Kane kept his side alive with a late double.
A tense tussle with Inter followed but Christian Eriksen's 80th-minute strike ensured the battle for second spot would go down to the final round of action.
Spurs just needed to match the Italian side's result but that task was made significantly harder by a trip to the Camp Nou, where Ousmane Dembele broke the deadlock early on. However, with PSV holding out for a draw in the San Siro, Lucas Moura's equaliser was enough to send the travelling fans into pandemonium.
Before Moura had produced the pivotal leveller, the north-London side had drifted in price to lift the trophy, but it was nothing in comparison to what was to follow.
Tottenham were handed the task of taking on Borussia Dortmund in the final 16, with the then Bundesliga leaders installed as marginal favourites for the tie at 4/5 with Sky Bet, compared to Tottenham's 10/11.
After weathering a first-half storm, Spurs made light of their outsider status by running away 3-0 winners at Wembley before Kane sealed a 1-0 triumph in Germany.
Their reward? A meeting with outright favourites Manchester City, who were made considerable favourites to progress past their Premier League counterparts, with Tottenham standing at an 11/4 price.
Pep Guardiola's men even headed to Tottenham's new stadium as favourites to win the first leg, but Heung-min Son produced a sublime late winner to defy the form book. Despite this, they were still 5/4 heading into the second leg at the Etihad.
With Kane sidelined, Son was to be the hero again as Spurs stormed into an unlikely lead in Manchester. However, with City bouncing back to lead 4-2, odds of 9/2 (at 21:18:30) to qualify reflected the feeling that the visitors had blown their chance.
Those odds were to be turned over as well thanks to VAR, with Fernando Llorente's hip handing the travellers another away goal before Raheem Sterling's third was ruled out.
With Ajax defying to odds themselves to oust Juventus and then Real Madrid, Spurs were considered favourites to reach the final, but that was all about to change.
A 1-0 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, followed by conceding two first-half goals in the second leg in Amsterdam, saw Spurs drift to 20/1 to qualify (at 20:43) and 50/1 to lift the trophy.
When Moura's brace brought them to within an away goal of the final those odds were slashed, but they drifted out to 14/1 as the extra-time came to its conclusion.
As they say, the rest is history, but Tottenham must now look forward if they are to enjoy the greatest night in their 137 years. They may be outsiders in Madrid, but the tag certainly seems to suit a side who have defied the longest of odds throughout their remarkable campaign.
