If the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals plays anything like the first, it will be an impossible task for Liverpool to reverse a 3-1 deficit and progress past Real Madrid. The defending Premier League champions were lucky to return from Spain with just two goals behind after the gaps in their backcourt were fearlessly exploited by a direct, aggressive attack.
But there is still hope for Liverpool, who under Jurgen Klopp have developed an impressive record for recoveries and late goals. They overcame a 3-0 deficit two years ago against a Spanish giant to reach the Champions League final, is it surely in their ability to repeat the trick again? If they have to do this, this is what needs to happen:
Revive the press
Although it was the defenders who could not cut out the pace of Toni Kroos, last week drew much of the focus to the game, but further discussion was perhaps deserving as to why one of the best passers-by in world football so much got time to choose his place. . There could have been more done to stop Vinicius Junior, Marco Asensio and Karim Benzema, but it would have helped if they did not have the passes that drifted in their direction of a man who had all the time in the world .
That Kroos and Luka Modric were so comfortable in the engine room boils down to two striking choices that Klopp made and will probably have to reconsider now: Roberto Firmino and Thiago replaced by Diogo Jota and Naby Keita.
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The logic was clear: Jota was able to score the goals that Firmino did not, while Keita was able to make up for a lack of pressure without the Brazilian. According to fbref.com, Keita is the leading Liverpool midfielder in successful pressure at 90 minutes, and he ranks in the 91st percentile among players in his position in Europe’s top five leagues in that facet of the game. In 41 minutes he tried 14 times to push Real Madrid players and he was only successful three times.
Without firing a deeper level at Firmino Madrid, it was too easy for Kroos to simply drop back, pick up the ball from his center and play a pass behind a high line with spaces to put it in. liver. All three Jota, Keita and Sadio Mane could have come closer to the German. No one did it. It is reasonable to assume that Firmino could have done so. It was equally noteworthy that Thiago, perhaps not as natural a striker as others in Liverpool midfield, was more successful in closing the opposition midfield, as Klopp admits that his tactics did not bear fruit.
What is curious is that the blitzkrieg that Liverpool were the masters from early in Klopp’s office has generally proved that this is the most effective way to disrupt the Spanish giants in Europe. A revival of that kind of action from the start could get Madrid’s feathers rolling at least early.
2. No bugs on the back
“With the quality that Madrid has, you have to defend our highest highest levels, which we did not do the night before,” Klopp said during his pre-match press conference. This is a generous evaluation of the performance of his team, where they handed over goals to Real Madrid. No mistake was worse than in the second time, where Trent Alexander-Arnold slammed the pass of Toni Kroos into the back of Marco Asensio’s path. It was one of the several mistakes the Liverpool right-back made on a sad night, but he was far from alone.
Andrew Robertson offered nothing to force Asensio back and Nathaniel Phillips and Ozan Kabak looked as they were: two young central defenders were completely untested at the highest level of European football. Its importance cannot be underestimated. Alexander-Arnold and Robertson have never been almost error-free, but if you have defenders as fast as Joe Gomez or with the imperial streak of Virgil van Dijk, there is little room for error.
There is little Klopp can do here other than hope and try to limit the supply line to VInicius and his company, a point he emphasized during his post-match press conference. ‘He’s obviously an excellent talent. Everyone knew this before, but since then he has obviously gotten better.
‘We try to avoid the passes in his direction, which is actually a big task. Under the impression [with him]? Yes. Amaze? No.”
3. Moons discover some form
In the aftermath of the first stages, most of the debate surrounding Mane focused on a foul not given in the build-up to Real Madrid’s second goal, rather than his increasingly stubborn shooting in front of goal. It was a trend during this season, with just ten chances in the Premier League and Champions League, which is an all the more curious slump when he considers that he is taking more shots per 90 minutes this season than he did . since moving to Anfield, he has cracked the three shots per game for the first time in a Liverpool shirt.
Despite taking a half shot more than last season, he scored the same shots per game – as measured by expected goals (xG) – and Opta’s xG on goal shows that a player who scored half a goal per game last year was average. season based on where his shots actually ended up is now just a small fraction over one goal per three games. In other words, Mane comes in similar positions as last season, but makes far fewer of the opportunities that come his way. Just look at his shot points below, there is very good quality in red.
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It is a strong decline and one that led to Klopp Mane having to drop Firmino ahead of the weekend victory over Aston Villa, where he admitted that the Senegal forward’s slump gave the decision. However, if Liverpool could have confidence that they are getting their No. 10 on the verge of reaching even the pinnacle of its powers, he would start on Wednesday without hesitation.
At best, Mane can beat Dani Carvajal terror in a Real Madrid team and with Alvaro Odriozola only recently returning from his own fitness issues. The 29-year-old is unrepentant in his printing, dares the chances that come his way and has the most exceptional chemistry with Firmino and Mohamed Salah. With their attacking trident on the crest of his power, a 3-1 deficit is nothing Liverpool can overcome.
4. The players believe in Anfield magic
Sit at the top of the bulging main standard and the gorge that hits Anfield hits you. It was once a space filled to a deafening degree by a group of people who, regardless of the opponent or the context, believed Liverpool were going to win. Since the return of football behind closed doors, it has felt like a very lonely place, where you can be trapped in your mind.
Liverpool’s great superpower in recent years has been the symbiotic link between those on the field and those out there. On occasion, which seemed like a performative love affair, joyful fans competed – never more so than when the Heads celebrated a 2-2 draw with West Bromwich Albion as if they were eight points ahead of the Premier. League – but the same crowd seems to be sucking the ball into the net in return wins over Borussia Dortmund (five years from the day since this match) and Barcelona.
‘The result is a problem and the quality of the opponent [is too]Klopp says: ‘There is only one extra problem – no fans in the stadium. We need to create our own atmosphere. ‘
If you do not implicitly believe 50,000 people in you, it certainly does not help Klopp to convince his players that they can overthrow the chance, but that does not mean that it is impossible to build momentum. A crowd that inspires you is certainly important, but in the end it was the players who overcame the odds against Dortmund and Barcelona. If they are 1-0 or 2-1 behind and there is not yet a long time to go, there is no reason why they would not be able to repeat the trick.