The Lion king

One of the biggest achievements in football history. This year's finals of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League were between four teams from the English Premier League - Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal. This is just another proof that this league has always been the most competitive and interesting amongst all its rivals. None of the others can compare to the quality of football played not to mention that every single game of this championship is played in front of full crowd. There are never empty seats in the stadiums even in the lower divisions. There are six teams each year that compete for the first slots which is a precedent that exists nowhere else. Maybe the Italian Seria A can come close to that where Napoli, Roma, Juventus and Inter play the same role almost every year and the games between those teams can be really very intriguing. Unfortunately lately Milan is not doing so great otherwise it could be also easily added to this club.

Defensively Liverpool does pretty well where Virgil Van Dijk let almost no one pass. In my opinion they will be the team to beat this season. As to Manchester City their season didn't start very well. They are already five points behind Liverpool. However they are still very strong team and the title this year will be decided again between those two clubs. It will be incredible if City manage to win the Premier League for a third year in a row which has not happened in the era since the League exists. Setting up records like this that might never be broken is a huge reason to be motivated so I don't expect them to give up the fight just yet. I do think that City will try to win the Champions League where they will give their best this season. Pep Guardiola has plenty of class players in order to fight two battles at the same time.

The rest of the teams from top six started more or less as expected. Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham will play their role but I don't think at this stage they are good enough to compete with Liverpool and Manchester City for the first two slots. In any case we should expect very good games when it comes to these teams playing against each other.

The game started more or less evenly with Liverpool pressing high up the field. Then 14th minute came when Alexander-Arnold opened the lead for the Reds with a powerful and precise shot taken from a free kick on the edge of the box. There was nothing in my opinion the goalkeeper could do to save it even though he might be blamed for it because the ball went in at the corner where he was standing. For the next 15 minutes there was only one team on the pitch and that was Chelsea. They dominated entirely accumulating the pressure against their opponents every minute. The culmination of their efforts came in the 24th and 27th minutes. First Abraham went face to face with Adrian but his shot was saved. Three minutes later Chelsea scored but the goal was disallowed by the VAR who spotted one of their players in offside position in the build-up.

The second half started somehow unexpected with Liverpool dominating the game and creating more chances. Two good opportunities were missed in the first quarter by Firmino and Alexander-Arnold. Then around the 60th minute Chelsea took back control of the game and started to put high pressure on Liverpool defense. This led to the 71st minute when Kante scored a spectacular goal being surrounded by four Liverpool players. Klopp's response was immediate and he made some changes to his squad and strategy in order to level the play. However Chelsea tried to equally adjust by adding Batshuayi to the offence line in the 77th minute. The cat and mouse game until the end was in favor of Liverpool. They managed to maintain the score and left Stamford Bridge with three points staying on the top of the Premier League with five clear points ahead of their biggest rival Manchester City.

So the question to ask is did Liverpool deserve to win? And the answer is yes and no. Yes because they were the more balanced team which showed better overall performance, discipline and made no fatal mistakes. No because the chances created by Chelsea were twice as many. They were the team which dominated the game most of the time and was looking for the win with greater desire. Unfortunately as we all know in football you're rewarded for the goals you score and not for the effort. The reward for the effort is strictly reserved only for the fans. And after the game the Chelsea fans made no exception with big round of applause to their players for giving their best.

This changed completely in the years after 2013. However efforts were made to bring back the club on the winning streak. Highly respected managers were hired and expensive players purchased but the years of glory never returned. In any case Manchester United is still a major threat for any opponent and there was every reason to believe that this game will bring the best of English football.

On the other side the same hopes were placed in Unai Emery who succeeded Arsene Wenger as a manager of Arsenal for 22 years. Wenger made Arsenal what it is today even though he never won a major international title. He had only one Champions League final against Barcelona in 2006 which was lost by two to one. Unai career has been spectacular since 2012 when he took Sevilla. He won the Europa League in three consecutive years and then moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 2016 where in the time that followed he won all domestic trophies. Unai still struggles to find the right medicine for Arsenal. Nevertheless the team continues to play their reserved trademark of offensive football that is nice to watch but not necessarily efficient and productive of in terms of wins and points.

The second half started with Arsenal controlling the ball most of the time and pushing Manchester players deep in their field. The rain had continued pouring down which didn't make the players job easier but certainly made Manchester counter attacks much more dangerous. One of these in the 56th minute was very close to give them two goals lead. In the following attack a mistake in Manchester defense left Oubameyang face to face with De Gea and he scored without hesitation. The side referee signaled for offside but VAR over-ruled him and this leveled the game 1:1. Arsenal tried to use this advantage and created two good chances to double the score in the next few minutes. However De Gea showed why he is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Manchester recovered quickly and the game was played again in high speed with the ball moving from one end to the other in just seconds. First Pogba's shot missed to score by just few inches and then Rashford again wasn't able to put his name on the list of scorers. Harry Maguire's shot in the 73rd minute in the top left corner was also neutralized by Arsenal keeper. Emery sensing that United was very close of scoring for a second time was forced to make another substitution to adjust his strategy. The game continued double-edged with both teams trying to take the lead. However there was no clear chances for any of them and the match ended 1:1.

NEXT: Manchester United - Liverpool 1:1 (20/10/2019)