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
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.
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.
