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It's official, Liverpool are the 2018/2019 UEFA Champions League winners and have earned the right to contest next season's Super Cup with Chelsea in August, as well as the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
The victory was Liverpool's first European trophy since 2005 and indeed their first major trophy of any kind since 2012, bringing their total European Cups to six.
The Reds are now the outright third highest winners of the competition behind only Real Madrid and AC Milan and as such, the 'You'll Never Win Anything' trolls can take a long overdue backseat.
Given the harrowing nature of their Premier League title loss to Manchester City, anything other than victory in the match would have been a travesty and as fate would have it, lightning did not strike twice as Liverpool rose from their defeat in last season's final to Real Madrid with Salah getting his redemption.
With their victory, Jurgen Klopp's men have laid down a marker that they are here to stay and belong among the very elite of European football. For their part, Tottenham contributed their own quota to making this an exhilarating Champions League season but ultimately came up short when it mattered most. In this piece, we shall be highlighting four talking points from the 2018/2019 Champions League final.
#4 Klopp finally ends final hoodoo
Ever since Jurgen Klopp arrived in Liverpool in October 2015, there has been undeniable progress at the club.
The 51-year-old inherited a side which was disjointed and lacking any clear direction, but he has implanted his personality on the club, moulding his squad into his boisterous and lively personality and this much is evident in the way his players play.
When Klopp arrived Anfield, they were nowhere near being top four contenders, but in just his first full season, he led the side back into Europe's elite and made it all the way to the final of the Champions League campaign.
However for all of the progress made, a major dent on the German manager was the lack of silverware during his tenure and the way his side capitulated in the just concluded season of the Premier League season only helped buttress the opinion that Klopp was a 'nearly man'.
Heading into the clash with Tottenham, much was made about the fact that Klopp had lost his last six finals, with three of those coming at Liverpool as his side fell to Manchester City in the League Cup just four months on from his arrival, while throwing away a one-goal lead to lose to Sevilla in the 2016 Europa League final as well as last season's reversal to Real Madrid in the Champions League.
This trio of defeats came in addition to three he suffered as Dortmund boss and it must have played into his psychology heading into the fixture.
However, those proved to be nothing more than more distractions, as his side showed dominance over their Premier League rivals to hand Klopp his first European trophy at the fourth time of asking.
Liverpool's Champions League win has guaranteed them a shot at two more trophies in the next six months and with the questions of 'not having a winning mentality' now out of the way, Jurgen Klopp can now focus on leading his side to challenge Manchester City once more for that much elusive Premier League title.
#3 The match failed to provide fireworks
Over the last few years, Liverpool and Tottenham have been among the most exciting teams to watch, with both managers instilling an attacking blueprint at their respective teams which their players have followed to the letter.
In light of these, it was expected that both sides would go all out in the fixture, providing thrills and giving us a spectacle which we would not forget in a hurry.
However, this failed to happen, as the final turned out to be nothing more than a cagey affair, with both sides not really doing enough in an attacking sense to ensure the match failed to live up to expectation.
Between the two clubs, the winners of the Premier League Golden Boot in each of the last four seasons were on display, but other than Salah burying the contentious penalty won in the second minute of the match, neither men really offered any real spark for the duration of the match.
Harry Kane failed to get a shot on target, while the entire Liverpool squad could only muster three in total and this was a far cry from what was expected prior to kickoff, with both teams playing a role in ensuring we had the first Champions League final without a goal at both ends since 2010.
#2 Could this be the end of Pochetino's era at Spurs
Mauricio Pochetino was appointed as Tottenham manager in the summer of 2014 and since then, the Argentine has transformed the North London side into not just serial top four finishers, but also Premier League and now Champions League contenders.
The 47-year-old deserves immense praise for his performance on the Spurs bench, especially seeing as he has not been financially backed as much as his more illustrious counterparts in the Premier League and elsewhere.
Instead, Pochetino has transformed a group of young players into world beaters and it is not surprising that his work has not gone unnoticed, with the former Southampton manager having been linked with a number of high profile jobs in the last year including that of Real Madrid and Manchester United.
However, he showed great loyalty in keeping to his commitment, but having seen out the season, Pochetino confirmed that he would speak with the Tottenham board over his future and the direction the club wants to take.
Pochetino is unarguably one of the best managers in the world at the moment and a coach of his ability needs the requisite backing in the transfer market to get the right materials to work with.
On account of Tottenham's frugal financial operations, the Lily Whites might not be the club to help Pochetino realize his ambitions and he has stated as much.
With the Juventus managerial role having been opened following Allegri's departure at the end of the just concluded season, Pochetino stoked the embers of speculation by stating that 'Italy is my home', leading to rumours that he could be on his way to Turin to manage Cristiano Ronaldo.
#1 VAR controversy arises once again
The dust had barely settled from the Champions League opening ceremony when a major incident took place when the teams took to the field.
Just 30 seconds into the match, Sadio Mane flicked the ball against Moussa Sissoko's outstretched arm and match referee Damir Skomina wasted no time in pointing to the spot for penalty, refusing to consult with VAR to review his decision.
As it happened, the 42-year-old's decision caused a lot of consternation online, as fans raged against the penalty decision, considering it a soft penalty to be awarded.
Since the introduction of the Laws of the Game in 1863, perhaps no Law has been as divisive and controversial as Law 12 involving 'fouls and misconduct' with the handball rule being the epitome of this confusion.
Despite numerous attempts by FIFA and the IFAB (International Football Associations Board) to rectify and simplify this rule, it remains as confusing as ever with referees seemingly as clueless as fans as to what constitutes a punishable handball offense.
VAR was introduced to curb individual refereeing errors in football matches, but as the 2018/2019 Champions League final showed, while it might have made some gains, VAR is still a long way from eliminating refereeing controversies.
