'The game was not good' - Mourinho claims pragmatic approach won Champions League for Liverpool

Jose Mourinho was not impressed by the show put on by Liverpool and Tottenham in the Champions League final.  

Mourinho, who has won two Champions League trophies, one with Porto in 2003 and another with Inter in 2010, felt it was a pragmatic approach from Liverpool that saw them seal a 2-0 win on Saturday.  

The Reds came into the match thought of more as an attacking side with a trio of dangerous forwards and a midfield willing to support them high up the pitch.  

But the former Manchester United boss, working as a pundit, didn’t see any of that against Spurs, and thinks the match should be rated as “not good” on the overall showing.  

"I think the three midfield Liverpool players, if we are going to see the wave of their positioning, they played on a straight line in front of a back four,” he said on beIN Sports. 

"You don't remember (Jordan) Henderson, (Gini) Wijnaldum, Fabinho, (James) Milner being close to the three attacking players, to have one arrive in the box, nothing. They stayed in a block of seven, they were very pragmatic, very solid defensively. 

"I think also that if this match is not the Champions League final, if it is a Premier League match, or the final of the League Cup, we would all say the game was not good. 

"Because it is a Champions League final, it has this emotional side of it, but I think the quality of the game was not good, and Tottenham have to be frustrated, because they lost and they feel that they are better than this. These big moments are when you have to be at your best level." 

Another former Premier League boss, Arsene Wenger, agreed with Mourinho, calling Liverpool’s showing “very average” in securing the title.  

"At the end of the day the game was decided by two set pieces,” he said.  

"I personally believe it was a very, very average Liverpool, and that there was more in this game for Tottenham. They lacked a bit of killer instinct, and I felt it was more linked with the psychological side than the real quality. 

"I felt like they believed but without really 100 per cent believing, Tottenham tonight."