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Amateur Andrea Lee was assessed a one-shot penalty for slow play during the third round of the U.S. Women's Open on Saturday.

With rounds approaching six hours at the Country Club of Charleston, the Stanford junior and fourth-ranked amateur in the world was the only player in the field singled out for slow play. 

Lee was 5 over on her round when she was informed of the penalty, which was preceded by a warning.

Given the pace of the entire event, and considering Lee was only player penalized, the social media reaction was not kind, with the USGA (yet again) drawing criticism:

Lee would go on to sign for a 7-over 79 that left her 8 over for the week, in 66th place.

DUBLIN, Ohio – The comeback continues for Jordan Spieth.

Starting the day one shot off the lead at the Memorial, Spieth was slow out of the gates, and on No. 3 he suffered his first three-putt in 137 holes. But he bounced back down the stretch, including a pair of late birdies and a clutch par save on No. 18 to close out a third-round 69 that left him in a tie for third, four shots behind Martin Kaymer.

Spieth didn’t benefit from a highlight reel of hole-outs like he did en route to an opening-round 66, but he’s still very much in the mix for what would be his first victory since the 2017 Open at Royal Birkdale.

“That was a grind. I had a little bit of a two-way miss with the irons today which left me in some tough spots,” Spieth said. “I thought 3 under in the wind would leave me within two or maybe three of the lead, but looks like it’s going to be four.”

Spieth’s stint in Ohio continues a steady progression of form that dates back to the AT&T Byron Nelson three weeks ago. He has played four straight events, and after a Sunday fade at Trinity Forest he followed a T-3 at the PGA Championship with a T-8 result last week at Colonial.

It’s a welcome stretch of positivity for a player who largely struggled with both his game and confidence through the first half of the season but now appears poised for further success, even if a coveted handshake with tournament host Jack Nicklaus on the 72nd green remains outside his grasp this weekend.

“All in all I’m pleased with the progress that’s been made,” Spieth said. “If I look back three weeks from the Byron Nelson to now, it’s night and day in my opinion about how I feel about my game and how it’s actually producing. So I’m pleased with that, and I’m just trying to make a little bit more progress tomorrow.”

DUBLIN, Ohio – As his friend Adam Scott explained, Martin Kaymer is very direct, so when the German was asked about his drastically improved putting this week at the Memorial, his answer was predictably to the point.

“I think I read them well and I stroke them well,” said Kaymer, who extended his lead to two strokes Saturday with a third-round 66. “I think it's one of those times, similar to Pinehurst [2014 U.S. Open], where I didn't miss many putts within 10, 12 feet. Obviously, you need that in order to win on the PGA Tour.”

If that sounds overly simple, consider that Kaymer ranks 128th this season in strokes gained: putting and 194th in putting average.

By comparison, he’s first this week in the field in strokes gained: putting, picking up 9.377 shots on the field on the greens. During the third round, he converted three putts over 10 feet, and he’s one of 18 players without a three-putt.

“I didn't know that I was plus nine shots on the greens. But I don't really care about that,” Kaymer said. “I worked really hard on the short game. I worked really hard on the putting over the last two or three years, and particularly over the last four or five months, so I'm not apologizing.”

DUBLIN, Ohio – In a game that’s increasingly tilted toward the young in recent years Martin Kaymer and Adam Scott are poised to prove that there is life after 30.

The grizzled duo has gone a combined 123 starts on the PGA Tour since their last victory, but they'll set out in Sunday afternoon's final group in what is very much a throwback twosome.

2014 called, it want its tournament back.

Kaymer’s last victory on Tour was at the 2014 U.S. Open while Scott hasn't seen the winner's circle since ’16, but they’ll begin the final round first and second, respectively, on the Memorial leaderboard.

In a game that can become fixated on winning, Kaymer and Scott are lessons in patience and perseverance.

For Kaymer, this is something of a payoff following five difficult years since he was collecting major championships, not that the thoughtful German would ever allow himself to be lulled into the self-destructive cycle of a results-driven mindset.

It was 2010 when Kaymer won his first major at the PGA Championship. Early the next year he became No. 1 in the world ranking and in ’14 he doubled down on that status with two victories (The Players and U.S. Open) in three starts. That was the last time he finished inside the top 3 at a Tour event and he’s since plummeted to 186th in the world.

He became a cautionary tale other Tour players would whisper about in private. What happened to Martin Kaymer?

As is always the case with these things there is no shortage reasons. There were injuries like a shoulder ailment in 2017 and a predictable loss of confidence along the way that led to frustration. He was putting in the work but his scorecard told a different tale.

But as he slogged his way through his swoon the 34-year-old discovered that it wasn’t some sort of lost art that he was seeking so much as it was peace.

“At the beginning you don't really know if you're capable of becoming No. 1,” Kaymer explained. “All of a sudden you see yourself being No. 1 in the world and you're in the middle of it. And it's a very, very proud moment. And afterwards it's just a number. Number next to your name. It didn't mean that much.”

Kaymer’s bogey-free 66 on Day 3 won’t deliver eternal happiness, either. Nor will a victory on Sunday at Jack’s Place, but it certainly will give him a more favorable perch to savor the moment.

Following three consecutive rounds in the 60s, he’s at 15 under and two shots clear of Scott thanks to his performance on the greens that has left him first in the field in strokes gained: putting. For Kaymer, Sunday isn’t a chance to win or lose, it’s simply the opportunity he’s been working toward for five years.

“Once you lead a golf tournament, it's so much about how much can you handle yourself,” Kaymer said. “Obviously if somebody takes a run at you, it is what it is. But the game plan doesn't really change. For me it's pure enjoyment the way I play right now.”

Scott’s career has been a similar roller coaster since he ascended to No. 1 in the world in the summer of 2014. He became the first Australian to win the Masters in 2013, became a regular contender on Tour and even weathered the decision to ban anchoring.

But in 2017 he failed to advance to the third round of the playoffs and his chances to win waned. His struggles lingered until last year when he arrived at the Memorial just hoping to avoid Monday’s 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier following two of the most unproductive years of his career. Like Kaymer, it wasn’t the missing limelight or the holes in an otherwise stellar resume that motivated Scott, it was the intrinsic desire to improve, however incrementally, every day.

“It's been a while since we've both won out here. I'm sure going out tomorrow we're both really going to want to play well and come away with a win,” said Scott, whose third-round 66 moved him to 13 under. “It's one of those events that you'd really love to have on your résumé before your career is over. I'm excited for the chance tomorrow.”

Perhaps more than any other player in the field not named Tiger Woods - who was tied for 25thin what has essentially become a U.S. Open tune-up - Scott can appreciate Kaymer’s journey back to Sunday relevance.

“He's an incredibly hard worker,” Scott said of his Sunday playing partner. “If you don't see it from the wins he's had of how gritty and tough he is, I can tell you he's pretty gritty and tough working through the down times. I expect it to be very difficult to get past him tomorrow.”

Scott also talked of dinners with Kaymer over the years and conversations that only those who have reached the top of the competitive mountain can have. About life after the victories and the struggle of not letting what you do for a living define you as a person.

“We've had some pretty honest discussions,” Scott said.

There won’t be any of those deep dives on Sunday at Muirfield Village. Being in contention during the final round of a tournament is no place to unpack such esoteric thoughts and there’s really no need. They both know everything they’ve had to overcome and the ebb and flow of a fickle game. As Kaymer said, this is pure enjoyment.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Former Duke championship teammates Yu Liu and Celine Boutier were tied for the lead after three rounds of the U.S. Women's Open.

Liu had a 5-under 66 to match Boutier at 7 under at the Country Club of Charleston. Boutier shot 69.

The pair of Blue Devils, good friends and starters on the 2014 NCAA championship team, were a stroke in front of Lexi Thompson, Jaye Marie Green and Mamiko Higa, the surprise leader the first two rounds.

Boutier held the lead at 8 under until she made her only bogey of the round on No. 16 after stubbing a chip and needing a 21-footer to limit the damage. She won the Vic Open in February in Australia for her first LPGA tour title.

Liu, in her first U.S. Women's Open, made six birdies in a 13-hole stretch to move up after starting four shots off the lead. She's winless on the tour.

Thompson powered her way into contention, going eagle-birdie on the 15th and 16th holes for a 68.

Green shot 68, her second sub-70 showing this week after entering with just one round in the 60s in five Open appearances.

Higa had an up-and-down round of three birdies and three bogeys to lose the lead she's held much of the week. She finished with her second straight 71.

Neymar accused of raping woman in Paris

Published in Soccer
Saturday, 01 June 2019 17:03

Neymar has been accused of raping a woman in Paris last month, according to a Brazilian police document. Meanwhile, the soccer player's father called the incident "a setup" against his son.

According to the document, obtained by ESPN Brasil, the unidentified woman said the assault took place on May 15 at 8:20 p.m. local time in a hotel room. The woman reported it to Sao Paulo police on Friday.

The woman told police that she and the Brazilian star met in France, where Neymar plays for Paris Saint-Germain, after exchanging Instagram messages. She said a representative of his named Gallo bought her tickets to Paris and booked her a hotel room.

She said Neymar arrived "apparently drunk" at the hotel and described to police that they "touched each other, but in a given moment Neymar became aggressive and, with violence, had sexual intercourse against the victim's will."

The report also states the woman left Paris two days later and that she did not file her complaint in Paris because she was shaken.

According to the police document, the woman was to go through medical examinations as part of the investigation.

Neymar's father and agent, Neymar Sr., defended his son Saturday on Brazilian television station Bandeirantes and shared messages between his son and the woman that he said absolves Neymar.

"This is a tough moment. If we can't show the truth quickly it will be a snowball. If we have to show Neymar's WhatsApp messages and the conversations with this lady, we will," he said.

Neymar is in Brazil preparing with the national team for the Copa America, which starts next week.

"I know that my son can be accused of many things, but I know the boy that he is, the man that he is, the son of a father and a mother," Neymar Sr. said. "We will push for justice to be served as quickly as possible."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Alisson, Van Dijk set foundation for Liverpool's glory

Published in Soccer
Saturday, 01 June 2019 16:34

Liverpool and Mohamed Salah laid to rest the ghosts of a year ago by seeing off Tottenham 2-0 to become champions of Europe for a sixth time. Salah converted a second-minute penalty, and cult hero Divock Origi enhanced his unlikely place in Anfield folklore by coming off the bench to wrap things up late on.

Positives

European Champions!

Negatives

None. Performances do not matter in finals, only results do.

Manager rating out of 10

10 -- Jurgen Klopp gets full marks not specifically for this game, but for the way he navigated his team through this season's competition and for making good on his promise in the immediate aftermath of last year's loss to Real Madrid in Kiev that "we'll bring it back to Liverpool."

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best. Players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Alisson, 8 -- A strange game for the Brazilian international, who was largely redundant for the first 75 minutes before needing to make a flurry of saves. Some were routine, others were excellent, but Spurs were never beating him. It highlighted the stark contrast between this year's final and that of a year ago, when Loris Karius' mistakes cost Liverpool.

DF Trent Alexander-Arnold, 7 -- Made some timely interventions defensively, especially in the first half, and managed to produce his usual dangerous deliveries into the box.

DF Joel Matip, 7 -- Quietly efficient, he did what he had to do with the minimum of fuss, much like he has for several months.

DF Virgil Van Dijk, 8 -- Rarely extended -- he was so much in control of his duel with Harry Kane -- but made one crucial intervention late on, with the score 1-0, to take the ball off Son Heung-Min in the penalty area.

DF Andrew Robertson, 8 -- Defended doggedly and with assurance and was a frequent threat going forward with some quality crosses. He also went close to scoring what would have been one of the most memorable goals in club history but was denied by the fingertips of Hugo Lloris.

MF Fabinho, 6 -- Unusually quiet. He was efficient enough in his work shielding the centre-backs but did not dominate the middle of the pitch in his usual manner.

MF Jordan Henderson, 7 -- Nowhere near as influential as usual but showed great tactical awareness and discipline off the ball. Getting his hands on the trophy will mean the world to a great professional who has been unfairly derided for much of his Anfield career.

MF Georginio Wijnaldum, 5 -- The hero of the semifinal never really got going, and it was no surprise when he made way for James Milner midway through the second half.

FW Mohamed Salah, 6 -- Held his nerve to convert an early penalty but did little thereafter and was nowhere near his best. Not that he will care as he looks at his winner's medal.

FW Roberto Firmino, 5 -- He had not played for six weeks, and, frankly, it showed. The normally effervescent Brazilian striker never got going and was replaced by Origi before the hour mark.

FW Sadio Mane, 7 -- Won the early penalty and was Liverpool's most lively forward. One surging run in the second half almost created a goal for Milner.

Substitutes

MF James Milner, 7 -- Did exactly what was needed to steady things and could have scored with a low shot that went inches wide.

FW Divock Origi, 8 -- Maintained his remarkable habit of scoring monumentally important goals with a superb late finish to put the game out of Tottenham's reach.

DF Joe Gomez, NR -- Given a late run to help see the game out.

Liverpool's journey is far from over

Published in Soccer
Saturday, 01 June 2019 17:47

MADRID -- And now, after a 2-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, it is six European Cups for Liverpool. With Barcelona and Bayern Munich left behind, ahead -- just one away -- are Milan and then 13-time winners Real Madrid, who have owned the European Cup competition like few others. No club can be separated from its past but Liverpool, more than most, are marked by what came before, from the sublime to the tragic.

The latest title mirrored those that came before in the sense that it was gutted out and filled with might-have-beens, probably many more than there should have been. That has been the story of Liverpool's European wins: Twice on penalties, twice by a single goal, always with the game in the balance until the final minutes.

So maybe it was apt that at the final whistle, when most of the nearly crowned champions of Europe collapsed to the Wanda Metropolitano pitch, felled by equal parts exhaustion, elation and the need for release, the last to get up was Jordan Henderson.

The Liverpool captain stayed down for what felt like an eternity, first with head in hands, then hunched on all fours. Only when substitute Divock Origi put the match out of reach, with three minutes to go, could Liverpool shake a creeping fear that an error- and fatigue-strewn final could take a twist against them.

There, for much of the second half, when Tottenham shook off the torpor and finally realized that if they were going to go down, it could not possibly be with the sort of flaccid whimper that characterized the opening 45 minutes, was Henderson. Arms flailing, legs pumping, orders barking.

He was not flawless, nor decisive, but he was the realization made flesh that a season's work -- heck, four years' work -- could be undone by a single, cruel moment. And in his ability to suffer, to fear and to excrete energy from every cell in his body, lay the key to Liverpool weathering Tottenham's late revival.

This was not the Liverpool side we had seen for much of the season, but it was the Liverpool side that needed to show up in order to win the European Cup, one year after losing in the final to Real Madrid.

"It was a big challenge for both teams, after three weeks without a competitive game, with the heat, it turned into a fight," manager Jurgen Klopp would say later. "Usually, I'd be sitting here to explain why we had played so well and lost. It's nice not to do that."

The Wanda Metropolitano is a concrete bowl, surrounded by lanes of expressways, which still feels unfinished nearly two years after its opening. In truth, Atletico Madrid's new home is about as welcoming as a port-a-potty, but less than a minute into the game, there was no place any Liverpool fan would rather have been.

Moussa Sissoko's arm was up and away from his body, possibly pointing at potential runners in the Tottenham penalty area, when Sadio Mane's chip struck him near the shoulder. Referee Damir Skomina did not even need VAR: Under the handball protocol, it was as straightforward a penalty as they come.

Mohamed Salah converted from 12 yards and celebrated with a hint of rage, his own moment of release. Just over 12 months ago, his Champions League final was cut short after a clash with Sergio Ramos in Kiev. Now, not only was he back, he had scored early.

The goal stunned Tottenham. You can understand why. For three weeks they had built up to this game, they had visualized, they had planned, they had dreamed. And now the cartoon piano had fallen on their heads.

For the rest of the first half they were sloppy and imprecise in passing and movement. Harry Kane looked like what he was: A guy who had not played competitive football in nearly two months. Son Heung-Min was frantic and frenzied, his button stuck on 16x, but not in a good way. Christian Eriksen was AWOL and the less said about full-backs Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier, the better.

Chalk some of this up to Tottenham's limitations, some of it to the psychological after-effect of the Sissoko blunder and some of it to a Liverpool press that worked just the way it does in Klopp's mind: Mane and Salah rapaciously doubling full-backs and midfielders, Henderson and Fabinho squeezing up, Virgil van Dijk keeping the defensive line high enough to deny all but the most vertical balls for Son.

- Liverpool ratings: 8/10 Alisson, Van Dijk set foundation for victory
- Tottenham ratings: 5/10 Kane, Alli struggle as Spurs fall short

Indeed, right up until an Eriksen shot just before half-time that landed among the Liverpool fans, Spurs' only effort on goal was a Sissoko piledriver / attempt at redemption that also sailed into the second tier.

But the early goal also had its effect on Liverpool's forwards. They could pop Tottenham attacks like soap bubbles, but could not turn possession won back into clear-cut chances. Other than the odd strike from distance -- Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson had one each -- there was little to trouble Hugo Lloris.

Whether it was a creeping overconfidence or whether it was the fact that Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld slowly got the measure of Liverpool's front three, it felt as if Klopp's crew had wasted much of the opening period when they had an opportunity to close out the game.

Both teams went into the break knowing they could do better. A lot better. Previously subdued Tottenham supporters sprang into life with a rousing rendition of "When the Spurs go marching in," perhaps remembering that, no matter how poor their team had been, they were still very much in the game.

Mauricio Pochettino's men could not let the club's first European Cup final end like this and they did not. Robertson had to snuff out a five-on-four counter with a brilliant tackle on Harry Winks, while Joel Matip channelled his inner Dikembe Mutombo to reject a close-range Dele Alli effort.

Klopp also had answers on his bench. On for Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum came came Origi and James Milner: Respectively, the comeback, late-goal hero and the tireless veteran who Lionel Messi called "burro" (which means donkey and which Milner, the epitome of humility, probably took as a compliment).

When Klopp makes substitutions with a lead, the purpose is not to slow the game down and play on the counter, it is to add fresh legs, energize the press and go for the kill. And thus the game opened up.

Milner -- keyed by one of those patented Mane zero-to-60 in nothing flat accelerations -- shot just wide. Van Dijk neutralized a Son scamper in his own, apparently effortless way -- 64 and counting, in fact. When Tottenham did pose a threat, Allison made a trifecta of stops, denying Son, Lucas Moura and Eriksen.

Then came Origi's moment and the sense of liberation for Liverpool that comes from knowing it is your night, no matter what came before. It is not a coincidence that Klopp said his overriding feeling was "mostly relief." Silverware matters, of course it does, but he knows that what matters more is the work behind it, the journey that takes you there.

Especially in a campaign with key moments that could easily have gone the other way, from the semifinal comeback against Barcelona to the dramatic 1-0 win against Napoli at Anfield in the final group-stage game, Klopp has seen enough, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, to treat those impostors -- victory and defeat -- just the same.

It is about the process and it is not over. For one, there is the desire to go one place better in the Premier League and claim a title the club has chased for 29 years. As Klopp himself pointed out, this is not the culmination of anything; this is an intermediate stage in a long-term plan that began with his appointment on an October day nearly four years ago:

"The players are still young; they have lots more to give," the manager of the European champions said.

The journey continues.

Boos follow Warner, but determination shines through

Published in Cricket
Saturday, 01 June 2019 15:41

David Warner is an Australia cricketer again. Four hundred and thirty-three days later, never mind that he brought along with him a couple dressed as sandpaper, and loud boos most places he has gone, Warner is an Australia cricketer again. That much no one can take away. Once he is done ignoring the boos, once he is done deflecting every last bit of attention off himself and onto the team, he must feel great relief that he is back playing for Australia.

Warner's is quite different to the cases of Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft, who have drawn their share of sympathy following tear-filled admissions of guilt. The cricketing world has been less forgiving on Warner, about whom the worst has been assumed. He is the perpetrator, the corruptor, the sledger who infamously said he needed to hate the opposition to be at his best. He has not made a public show of contrition, he has not had sponsors welcoming him back, he has done him time in silence. He needed this reassurance the most.

It could have been tempting and easy for Warner to look away. To India, where he was loved the moment he landed for this IPL. It can do weird things to you: to be loved in a country whose team you hated while your own country judges you. He could have looked to T20 leagues, where he will be the first pick the moment he goes freelance. To something other than cricket even because anything might have been better than being hounded like criminals.

ALSO READ: David Warner marks international return with match-winning 89*

Warner decided he wanted his Australia career more than anything else, and he has stayed determined to reclaim it. To do so he knew he would have had to earn back the respect not just of the outsiders but of the Australian team and coaching staff. Two days before the match, he was told he had to prove his fitness and prove it with time to spare so that the process is fair on Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja, one of whom would have to make way for him. There was no way Warner was not going to make it, though, and he did everything two days before the match to show the leadership he was fit. He was hungry.

There possibly could not have been a better scenario to come back to. Bristol is a quiet town that, going by the evidence of the last three days, has its priority. It was busier protesting against climate change than trying to spite an Ashes rival. While they are no pushovers, Afghanistan are not quite England or South Africa or India, matches against whom will draw the most negative attention for Warner and Smith.

And then Afghanistan decided to bat first, and the Australia bowlers kept them down to 207. While he fielded, Warner dealt with a mixed reaction. There were a few boos but when he went down to the long-on boundary towards the end of the innings, there were quite a few people asking him for autographs, whom he did oblige. He walked out to bat to boos, and while elite athletes love being loved this was nothing he wouldn't have expected and wouldn't be prepared for.

This was the kind of target where Warner could ease his way into his innings. His captain, Aaron Finch, made it even easier for Warner. Not long ago, in the IPL, Warner had scored more runs than anyone else despite playing only half the tournament. To those who watched him at the IPL, scoring at ease, taking in all the love, this innings might even feel mundane. Not to Warner.

"The way that I started out there - playing Twenty20 cricket over the last sort of 12 to 14 months - I hadn't really moved my feet at all," Warner admitted in the post-match presentation. "So to get back into rhythm out there, start moving in the right direction, getting my head over the ball - that was just great to get out there and do that. As a positive, for us, it's about getting past this first victory and move on to the West Indies."

Finch could see it. "I think he was struggling for the first half of his innings there," Finch said. "He struggled to time the ball and his feet weren't really going, so the fact that he kept hanging in there and hanging in there… you always have to remember that it's going to be harder for a new batter to come in. So that was great for him, to just keep on and do that job really well for us and be not out at the end."

It is easy to read too much into how determined Warner was, but there was restraint to this innings that you don't normally see with Warner. Consequently Hamid Hassan bowled two maidens at him, the first time anybody has done so in an ODI innings. He scored his slowest ODI half-century. He hit only eight fours and no sixes in 114 balls.

This innings, the uncertainness of it, the deliberateness of it, is almost like a reminder that the path to earning back respect is going to be a painstaking one. In bigger matches there will be more vitriol thrown his way, there will be less time to play himself in.

Warner is arguably the most fascinating cricketer going around today. It is not unlikely that in order to get the best out of himself, to win for Australia, Warner tired every less trick in the book: whether it be making himself hate the opposition for that extra edge or tampering with the ball. The time away must have brought him perspective, but now that he has chosen to be that elite athlete again, he almost has to prove his own methods wrong and still be successful and win games for Australia. Bristol is just the start of it, an easy start compared to what awaits him.

MADRID -- And now, after a 2-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, it is six European Cups for Liverpool. With Barcelona and Bayern Munich left behind, ahead -- just one away -- are Milan and then 13-time winners Real Madrid, who have owned the European Cup competition like few others. No club can be separated from its past but Liverpool, more than most, are marked by what came before, from the sublime to the tragic.

The latest title mirrored those that came before in the sense that it was gutted out and filled with might-have-beens, probably many more than there should have been. That has been the story of Liverpool's European wins: Twice on penalties, twice by a single goal, always with the game in the balance until the final minutes.

So maybe it was apt that at the final whistle, when most of the nearly crowned champions of Europe collapsed to the Wanda Metropolitano pitch, felled by equal parts exhaustion, elation and the need for release, the last to get up was Jordan Henderson.

The Liverpool captain stayed down for what felt like an eternity, first with head in hands, then hunched on all fours. Only when substitute Divock Origi put the match out of reach, with three minutes to go, could Liverpool shake a creeping fear that an error- and fatigue-strewn final could take a twist against them.

There, for much of the second half, when Tottenham shook off the torpor and finally realized that if they were going to go down, it could not possibly be with the sort of flaccid whimper that characterized the opening 45 minutes, was Henderson. Arms flailing, legs pumping, orders barking.

He was not flawless, nor decisive, but he was the realization made flesh that a season's work -- heck, four years' work -- could be undone by a single, cruel moment. And in his ability to suffer, to fear and to excrete energy from every cell in his body, lay the key to Liverpool weathering Tottenham's late revival.

This was not the Liverpool side we had seen for much of the season, but it was the Liverpool side that needed to show up in order to win the European Cup, one year after losing in the final to Real Madrid.

"It was a big challenge for both teams, after three weeks without a competitive game, with the heat, it turned into a fight," manager Jurgen Klopp would say later. "Usually, I'd be sitting here to explain why we had played so well and lost. It's nice not to do that."

The Wanda Metropolitano is a concrete bowl, surrounded by lanes of expressways, which still feels unfinished nearly two years after its opening. In truth, Atletico Madrid's new home is about as welcoming as a port-a-potty, but less than a minute into the game, there was no place any Liverpool fan would rather have been.

Moussa Sissoko's arm was up and away from his body, possibly pointing at potential runners in the Tottenham penalty area, when Sadio Mane's chip struck him near the shoulder. Referee Damir Skomina did not even need VAR: Under the handball protocol, it was as straightforward a penalty as they come.

Mohamed Salah converted from 12 yards and celebrated with a hint of rage, his own moment of release. Just over 12 months ago, his Champions League final was cut short after a clash with Sergio Ramos in Kiev. Now, not only was he back, he had scored early.

The goal stunned Tottenham. You can understand why. For three weeks they had built up to this game, they had visualized, they had planned, they had dreamed. And now the cartoon piano had fallen on their heads.

For the rest of the first half they were sloppy and imprecise in passing and movement. Harry Kane looked like what he was: A guy who had not played competitive football in nearly two months. Son Heung-Min was frantic and frenzied, his button stuck on 16x, but not in a good way. Christian Eriksen was AWOL and the less said about full-backs Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier, the better.

Chalk some of this up to Tottenham's limitations, some of it to the psychological after-effect of the Sissoko blunder and some of it to a Liverpool press that worked just the way it does in Klopp's mind: Mane and Salah rapaciously doubling full-backs and midfielders, Henderson and Fabinho squeezing up, Virgil van Dijk keeping the defensive line high enough to deny all but the most vertical balls for Son.

- Liverpool ratings: 8/10 Alisson, Van Dijk set foundation for victory
- Tottenham ratings: 5/10 Kane, Alli struggle as Spurs fall short

Indeed, right up until an Eriksen shot just before half-time that landed among the Liverpool fans, Spurs' only effort on goal was a Sissoko piledriver / attempt at redemption that also sailed into the second tier.

But the early goal also had its effect on Liverpool's forwards. They could pop Tottenham attacks like soap bubbles, but could not turn possession won back into clear-cut chances. Other than the odd strike from distance -- Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson had one each -- there was little to trouble Hugo Lloris.

Whether it was a creeping overconfidence or whether it was the fact that Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld slowly got the measure of Liverpool's front three, it felt as if Klopp's crew had wasted much of the opening period when they had an opportunity to close out the game.

Both teams went into the break knowing they could do better. A lot better. Previously subdued Tottenham supporters sprang into life with a rousing rendition of "When the Spurs go marching in," perhaps remembering that, no matter how poor their team had been, they were still very much in the game.

Mauricio Pochettino's men could not let the club's first European Cup final end like this and they did not. Robertson had to snuff out a five-on-four counter with a brilliant tackle on Harry Winks, while Joel Matip channelled his inner Dikembe Mutombo to reject a close-range Dele Alli effort.

Klopp also had answers on his bench. On for Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum came came Origi and James Milner: Respectively, the comeback, late-goal hero and the tireless veteran who Lionel Messi called "burro" (which means donkey and which Milner, the epitome of humility, probably took as a compliment).

When Klopp makes substitutions with a lead, the purpose is not to slow the game down and play on the counter, it is to add fresh legs, energize the press and go for the kill. And thus the game opened up.

Milner -- keyed by one of those patented Mane zero-to-60 in nothing flat accelerations -- shot just wide. Van Dijk neutralized a Son scamper in his own, apparently effortless way -- 64 and counting, in fact. When Tottenham did pose a threat, Allison made a trifecta of stops, denying Son, Lucas Moura and Eriksen.

Then came Origi's moment and the sense of liberation for Liverpool that comes from knowing it is your night, no matter what came before. It is not a coincidence that Klopp said his overriding feeling was "mostly relief." Silverware matters, of course it does, but he knows that what matters more is the work behind it, the journey that takes you there.

Especially in a campaign with key moments that could easily have gone the other way, from the semifinal comeback against Barcelona to the dramatic 1-0 win against Napoli at Anfield in the final group-stage game, Klopp has seen enough, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, to treat those impostors -- victory and defeat -- just the same.

It is about the process and it is not over. For one, there is the desire to go one place better in the Premier League and claim a title the club has chased for 29 years. As Klopp himself pointed out, this is not the culmination of anything; this is an intermediate stage in a long-term plan that began with his appointment on an October day nearly four years ago:

"The players are still young; they have lots more to give," the manager of the European champions said.

The journey continues.

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