With a comfortable 2-0 victory against Atletico Madrid, Liverpool not only qualified for the knock-out stages of the Champions League, but they did it with two games to spare and, after AC Milan and Porto played out a 1-1 draw in Italy, have gone through as group winners.
What this means is that with four wins out of four, for the rest of the group stages, Jurgen Klopp will be able to rest players, mix up the team, give fringe players the chance to impress and play themselves into form.
Apart from an injury to Roberto Firmino – who’d come on at half-time for Sadio Mané, the Senegalese striker being targeted by the Atletico players trying to get him sent off for a second yellow – this would have been a perfect night for the Reds.
Starting with Kostas Tsimikas in for Andy Robertson, Joel Matip for Ibrahim Konaté, Fabinho Tavares returning for Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain keeping out Curtis Jones, Liverpool saw off a good start from the Spanish champions to go one-up after seven minutes with tidy play down the right from Mo Salah and Jordan Henderson who knocked the ball to Trent Alexander-Arnold who crossed with deadly intent for Diogo Jota to dive onto the ball from six yards out and knock it into the back of net with his head.
Liverpool never looked back and, after 13 minutes, a shot come cross from Alexander-Arnold was sharply latched onto in the area by the irrepressible Mané who slammed the ball into the back of the net.
Immediate thoughts were that this is exactly what happened in Madrid two weeks ago, when a dominant Liverpool went up two nil only for Madrid to respond with two quick goals of their own. That game only turned back in the Reds’ favour when Antoine Griezmann was sent off for violent play, allowing Liverpool to go on and win the game with a Salah penalty.
This time, it was Felilpe who was dismissed, on 37 minutes, for violent play, hacking Mané as he sprinted into the Atletico half after a corner had broken down.
There was confusion as to whether Dutch referee Danny Makkelie had shown red not just for the challenge but also for Felipe’s dissent – refusing to acknowledge Makkelie as he commanded him to come towards him for a dressing down; but such was the cynicism and force of the foul that a straight red for that act alone was justified.
In the first twenty minutes of the second half, Liverpool’s dominance was such that they appeared able to score from every advance towards the Atletico goal. Chance after chance was created. Tsimikas’ delivery was particularly threatening. Every time he was on the ball you expected something to happen, and the game only died down when Luis Suarez’ defected goal was disallowed for offside – thwarting any chance the Spanish side had of getting back into the game – and Diego Simeone decided that this wasn’t going to be his side’s night and the best thing to do would be to prevent a thrashing.
Defenders were sent on and Liverpool, too, took their foot off the gas, deciding that there was no need for extra exertion. Divock Origi and Taki Minamino were given a runout, and Thiago Alcantara was a welcome returnee after a month out, even if he made a bad error on the halfway line, losing the ball and allowing Herrera to go through for a shot, which he should have done better with and had he done so would’ve made for an uncomfortable last 15 minutes for the Reds.
The injury to Firmino will have antagonised Klopp, but he will have been heartened by the performances of Tsimikas – whose good defensive work matched to his Alexander Arnold threat going forward must surely put pressure on Robertson – while Oxlade-Chamberlain put in a strong and purposeful performance.
Next up for Liverpool is a Premier League game with David Moyes’ in-form West Ham United, currently fourth in the table and flying in all the competitions they’re involved in.
A good result for the Reds will mean that going into the international break, they would’ve got off to a more than promising start to the season and can look forward – despite draws not only against title rivals Manchester City and Chelsea but also against sides they would expect to be beating, i.e. Brentford and Brighton – to getting their teeth stuck into all competitions.
