So Harry Kane started but never got anywhere near the game and it would be easy enough to say this was the wrong decision by Mauricio Pochettino but it was impossible to know.
This was not Kane at his best. This was not Tottenham at their best.
In fact, this was not Liverpool at their best but the meanest defence in English football showed no signs of strain in Spain.
Harry Kane endured a difficult night as Tottenham lost Champions League final to Liverpool
The skipper had just 11 touches of the ball during a disjointed first-half performance
Jurgen Klopp’s team were deserved winners in a low quality final, which possessed all the fluency of an early World Cup group game, when tired limbs were being forced into combat once again.
The three-week break may have helped Pochettino recover a fully fit squad for the first time this season but the zip was gone on a hot and humid night in Madrid.
If Kane lacked edge he wasn’t alone and he did little wrong as Tottenham went behind inside two minutes and then found it impossible to squeeze more any miracles from this European campaign.
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino opted to select Kane after he proved his fitness
Having snapped arrows with their throats by way of mental preparation they found their spears of destiny veered off target.
Virgil van Dijk took the honours in part one of his duel with the England captain.
They are scheduled to meet against in Portugal on Thursday if Kane is able to start another big game so soon after nearly two months out.
Van Dijk should be fine. He purred through this with his usual calm authority. Strong in the air, quick across the ground.
His pursuit and perfectly timed tackle on Heung-min Son as the clocked ticked down was the finest example. There was even time for him to set up the second.
Few strikers in the world can get the better of him in a mood like this.
Despite his hat-trick heroics in the semi-finals, Lucas Moura was relegated to the bench
Tottenham’s preparations had focused on facing fears with hot coals and broken arrows and Pochettino made his own leap of faith when he recalled Kane at the expense of Lucas Moura.
Without Moura’s hat-trick in Amsterdam there would have been no dispute about Kane’s return. Although, without the hat-trick, Spurs would not have been in Madrid.
Kane made the deadline with room to spare as far as the ankle was concerned. ‘Seven weeks or so of hard work,’ he said.
The England captain suffered an ankle injury against Manchester City in the quarter-final
Kane faced a desperate race to return to fitness for the match and spent 56 days out of action
But was he match-fit? Truly sharp? And if he was, should Spurs start with him and risk him running out of steam. Or hold him back on the bench and release him later in the game.
Pochettino went for it. To dare is to do as they say in N17. Kane is the talisman. The most potent centre-forward in English football. One with a supreme temperament.
To see him stride from the bus, smartly suited with his earplugs in and his mind on the final and out into the Metropolitano past the shimmering trophy was a reassuring sight for Tottenham eyes.
‘We believe,’ said Pochettino after revealing his hand. ‘We feel in the last few weeks he was ready to compete.
‘He was given time to feel the emotion and determination and yesterday we confirmed it was complete and he was ready to play.’
Kane had competed once or twice but had not touched the ball when Liverpool won the penalty and his first task was join the protest party surrounding referee Davor Skomina.
His second was to reassure his teammates there was plenty of time to go.
Tottenham, however, were struggling to find any rhythm or secure possession. Passes were hurried by Liverpool’s urgency, and Spurs bypassed their most creative players in haste to reach the spaces behind full-backs.
Kane’s first sight of the ball came with a snappy tackle from Joel Matip and his opportunities to get involved remained limited.
Kane was kept well under control by Virgil van Dijk throughout the match in Madrid
He was dominated in the air by Van Dijk and Matip and there were times when everyone around him seemed lighter on their feet.
Heung-min Son, wide on the left, darted in behind but there was little quality on any service up to the front men.
Tottenham’s only efforts at goal in the first-half soared way over from the boots of Moussa Sissoko and, more surprisingly, Christian Eriksen.
Spurs were better after the interval. They probed in possession, Kane offered more and Pochettino unloaded Lucas and Fernando Llorente.
There was pressure for Liverpool to absorb but Van Dijk and his defensive unit survived. When he didn’t there was Alisson Becker, repelling the late surge.
There would be no fairytale return for Kane. Tottenham had no more to give.