A crazy third Champions League game for Liverpool away against Atletico Madrid saw the Reds maintain their 100 percent winning start to the campaign, defeating the Spanish champions 3-2 and, given results elsewhere in the group, putting Jurgen Klopp’s men on the verge of qualifying for the knock-out stages.
The Reds were two up after 13 minutes with goals from Mo Salah and Naby Keita. Salah went on a snaking run across the 18 yard box looking for a shooting angle and when he found one unleashing a strike that took a small deflection off Kondogbia, which was enough to wrong foot Jan Oblak in the Atletico goal, and find its way into the back of the net.
Six minutes later, a poor defensive clearance from a Trent Alexander Arnold cross fell to Keita on the edge of the area and, just like his goal against Crystal Palace earlier in the season, the Guinean connected with a looping volley that gave Oblak no chance.
A comfortable night could have been expected, but what followed was anything but.
Keita, having made a great impression with his goal, then showed why his Liverpool career has never really taken off, with some shocking defensive play, not once – when he allowed Koke to breeze past him on the goal line to cross the ball for Antoine Griezman to strike home; but twice – when he allowed Joao Felix to dance past him without significant challenge to play in Griezmann to strike underneath Alisson Becker to square the game.
At this point, Atletico were on top and Liverpool’s failings against the better teams they’ve played this season, such as Manchester City and Chelsea, where Liverpool were lucky to come away with draws, seemed to point to serious deficiencies in the Reds’ make up that might come back to haunt them as they go for the Premier League and Champions League titles.
At half-time, Klopp made the necessary change – bringing on Fabinho for Keita (whose long-term Liverpool career must now be in doubt) – and even though Atletico were still the better team, it was a catastrophic error from their goalscorer, kicking Roberto Firmino in the head as the Liverpool striker went to head the ball clear in the Liverpool third, earning Griezmann a deserved red card, that changed the game.
Liverpool retook control and had to keep their emotions in check as the referee, despite making the right decision to send Griezmann off, berated by the Atletico players and their hyper-excitable manager Diego Simeone on the touchline, looked to even things up by sending off a Liverpool player. James Milner was given a yellow card for a challenge on Kieran Trippier, which was barely a foul, which had Atletico players baying for a red.
Still, the referee showed composure when another mad Atletico moment occurred, when a hopeful up and under from Alexander Arnold bounced in the opposition area and Mario Hermosa made the lunatic decision to charge into Diego Jota – who’d come on for Sadio Mané – and give away a clear penalty. Salah cooly stepped up to send Oblak the wrong way and give Liverpool the lead again.
There was still time for more drama, when the referee awarded the Spanish side a penalty when Jose Maria Jimenez went down under the mildest of nudges from Jota. VAR advised the official to go to the pitch side monitor to take another look and, rightly, the referee determined that the contact was minor and certainly not enough for Giminez to go over in the way he did.
The referee’s change of mind deflated Atletico and Liverpool held on comfortably for the rest of the game, their win putting them on nine points, five ahead of Atletico and Porto, who beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the group’s other match.
Next up for Liverpool is an away game against arch-rivals Manchester United, who have been struggling under the stewardship of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, so the Reds will fancy their chances of coming away from Old Trafford with a victory.
