The date with destiny has arrived. The rub with this Champions League Final is that it faces off two clubs, two managers, two sets of players and fans who believe it is their fate to win it. And yet only one can prevail.

Those epic semi-finals have defined this; those two incredible nights four weeks ago and just 24 hours apart to set up the biggest football match in history, for its global reach, between two English sides.

Liverpool will always have Anfield, the 3-0 comeback against Barcelona, and Tottenham Hotspur will always have Amsterdam and, arguably, an equally remarkable 3-0 revival against the young tyros of Ajax. When all appeared lost, fate intervened; the Gods smiled and indelible memories were created. Or so it can be cast.

But, crucially, both teams have also, to borrow a phrase from Jurgen Klopp, proved to be “mentality monsters” and on the eve of this final the Liverpool manager mused on the concept of “luck” before concluding: “There can be moments that are unlucky and lucky but I cannot change that. I understand luck as if you work for it then you get it from time to time.”

And how they have worked. Liverpool came through a group which contained Paris Saint-Germain and Napoli, with a dramatic victory over the Italians, they emphatically defeated Bayern Munich away, ending that ageing side, and they did what they did against Barcelona in a year in which Lionel Messi had promised he would bring the trophy back to Catalonia.