Real Madrid knock out Liverpool with cool head

17 Apr 2021, 11:24
0 comments
0
Tweet

In the second-leg quarter-final match at Anfield, Liverpool had a 0:0 draw with Real Madrid and were eliminated from the Champions League on aggregate (1:3).

After losing on all fronts in Madrid, where Real destroyed the Reds with their pressing, Liverpool needed to score at least two goals, provided they did not concede. From the start, Jurgen Klopp came out to put pressing and keep his sheet clean. To do this, Milner was in the midfield instead of Keita or Thiago, and Salah, Firmino and Mane played in the attack. There were no changes in defense.

Zinedine Zidane considered it a wise decision to release Federico Valverde to the right wing of the defense. The Uruguayan was constantly helped by Asensio, who plowed the edge of the field. When defending for numerical advantage, one of the trio Modric, Kroos and Casemiro went lower. In defense, Mendy, Nacho and Militao also played the whole match.

Liverpool started very briskly and in the second minute already Salah could open the score, but being in front of Thibaut Courtois shot in his leg. We think that the Egyptian will dream about this moment for a long time, because after it the Scousers had only Milner's shot from outside the penalty area. At the same time, the hosts constantly pumped and pressed, but Real Madrid immediately showed that they were not going to risk an advantage of two goals, going into thoughtless counterattacks. Most often only Benzema, Vinicius and occasionally Asensio crossed the half of the field of Liverpool. The rest defended the redoubts. But even with such hands, the Frenchman hit the post once.

Modric and Kroos played almost their worst match, since Milner, Wijnaldum and Fabinho burned out the center of the field, and Firmino was constantly connected to them. Toni would often drop in line with the center-backs to help break out of the defense, but this did not lead to control. Liverpool won the end of the first half as well as its beginning, but did not score.

In the second half, Klopp was in no hurry to make changes and only by the sixtieth minute released Thiago and Jota. The Portuguese added creativity and even once freed himself for a shot. The Spaniard could not enter the game for a long time, until the Reds staged the last attack after the eightieth minute, moving the whole squad to the other half.

Once again we saw that Thiago was not at ease. Once again, Salah proved that it was time to sell him last summer, and Real Madrid's defenders were quantitatively destroyed in the second half. Exit in the last ten minutes of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Shaqiri meant only all-in from Jurgen Klopp. Zidane did not take it easy on Liverpool. Real Madrid played smarter in terms of the score and with a cool head. But had Salah been more accurate in the second minute, everything would have ended differently. There is tremendous symbolism in this though. Liverpool have struggled through the entire season, and such an elimination is a vivid reflection of the current season.