MO WAY THROUGH
Liverpool crowded out and have it all to do in Germany
Jurgen Klopp’s team were far from their fluent best against the German champions in the last 16 first leg and will go to Munich for the return on March 13 with it all to do still.
Last year’s beaten finalists wasted chances through the usually prolific Mo Salah and Sadio Mane but will take heart from not conceding an away goal despite being without Virgil van Dijk in defence. LIVERPOOL failed to score for the first time in 19 games as Bayern Munich frustrated them in the Champions League last night.
LIVERPOOL have failed to score in only four games this season, and three of them have been in Europe. Short-term it means they are going to have to do it the hard way when these teams meet in Bavaria.
As a pattern, it may mean there is something still to be said for those crafty, resilient defenders who populate this tournament like traps.
Bayern Munich are not the quickest at the back but they know the course and distance and last night it showed. They kept a fullstrength Liverpool forward line at bay and frustrated the home crowd into a state of tetchiness. Anfield was its usual noisy self but long before the end there was a sense of frustration that their magic trio were being handled.
Liverpool had decent possession and good chances and were the better team — but Roberto Firmino was replaced by Divock Origi with 15 minutes remaining, a sure sign the best laid plans were going awry.
It is far from a lost cause, mind. Liverpool usually score and, every time they do in the return leg, Munich will have to match it with double. Even a goalless draw gives them a puncher’s chance on penalties, and Virgil van Dijk will be back, too — although there was little wrong with Liverpool’s marshalling of Robert Lewandowski in his absence.
Munich’s striker had outscored Liverpool on his own in the Champions League group stage but there was little sign of his status as the competition’s top scorer here. Quick feet, yes, wonderful movement, but scarcely a meaningful intervention in front of goal. His greatest contribution was the frissons of anxiety his very presence caused. He has a brilliant record against Joel Matip in Germany, too, but it did not show.
As Liverpool probed and found only dead ends, it certainly put Tottenham’s three-goal winning margin over Borussia Dortmund into perspective. Dortmund lead Munich in the Bundesliga, but there was little sign Liverpool could slice through Niko Kovac’s side with Tottenham’s ease.
At a mid-point in the first half Jurgen Klopp turned to the crowd around him and made the universal gesture — in these parts, at least — for calm down. He may have been better served giving the same advice to his goalkeeper, Alisson. Three times in the first 17 minutes he was guilty of a less than composed clearance, and had Bayern Munich been sharper to react they could have been ahead.
Alisson’s first clearance of the match was unconvincing to say the least, played straight to Kingsley Coman in the Munich midfield, although his response amounted to nothing.
Soon after, there was a poor punch to clear a cross from former Arsenal man Serge Gnabry — one of those ex-Premier League players who turns up in an elite European starting line-up, to the surprise of all — before a state of complete confusion between Alisson and Matip should have let in Coman again. He was put through by Lewandowski but shot into the side-netting,
Munich did not create much of their own but looked dangerous when capitalising on Liverpool’s mistakes. That is what happened after 37 minutes when Trent Alexander-Arnold came haring out from the back with the ball only to be calmly dispossessed by Thiago Alcantara as Munich countered. This time Gnabry’s shot was diverted round the far post by Alisson’s fingertips.
Before the game there was great confidence around Anfield, with locals predicting an emphatic victory. Three, maybe four-goal margins were not uncommon estimates. By half-time, though, adjustments were being made.
Liverpool were the better team but Munich were demonstrating that the experience of high-end elite clubs in this competition count for a lot, too. Much had been made of their slow defenders, and that wasn’t wrong. But they are exoerienced defenders.
Liverpool got close to goal on a number of occasions but Munich repelled them. They made blocks, they got a foot in, a vital touch, a glancing header. When Liverpool did get beyond them, finishing let Klopp’s side down.
Jordan Henderson, as so often happens on big European nights, was outstanding. He raises his game in matches like this, and so it was here. In the 12th minute, it was his neat through ball that put Mo Salah through, the striker getting a touch on the volley as the ball came over his shoulder, but not enough to defeat Manuel Neuer.
Naby Keita looked lively, too, and in the 17th minute Sadio Mane should have done better with his pass, shooting wide from a strong position. Might Liverpool have had a penalty after 33 minutes? Referee Gianluca Rocchi did not think so and as VAR is now in place for Champions League games, his team must have agreed.
Firmino, passed fit prior to kickoff, found Keita whose shot was blocked by a desperate lunge from Niklas Sule. Replays showed it
struck an arm, but in such close proximity to the shot it is hard to see how he could have avoided contact. The ball fell to Mane in a fabulous position, but he made a poor show of his shot on the turn.
Keita had an effort deflected up high in the 38th minute and Mane had time to take control but hurried an overhead kick attempt that sent the ball wide.
The same was true of Matip, who should have done more to capitalise on a cross from Henderson after a lovely backheel from Salah.
It meant the best chance of the half fell to a Liverpool player — but at the wrong end, In the 13th minute, Gnabry crossed and Matip, in a flap about the nearby presence of Lewandowski, leathered the ball against the chest of his own goalkeeper. It was the save of the night, not that Alisson knew too much about it. LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson, AlexanderArnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Keita (Milner 76), Salah, Firmino (Origi 76), mane . BAYERN MUNICH (4-3-3): Neuer, Kimmich, Sule, Hummels, Alaba, Martinez, Alacantara, Rodriguez (Sanches 88), Gnabry (Rafinha), Lewandowski, Coman (Ribery 81). Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy).