REDS HIT THE HEIGHTS!
Stunning victory is best of the lot
ENGLAND 3 Germany 0. For the third time in this Champions League knockout round, the elite of the Premier League proved superior to their Bundesliga equivalents.
Yet, for all of Manchester City’s 10-goal aggregate and Tottenham’s home and away wins over Borussia Dortmund, this result was the pick of them all.
Bayern Munich are European royalty with all the sense of entitlement and privilege that entails. No sooner have they hit the top of the domestic league than the talk begins of trebles. The German Cup and, of course, this: the club championship of Europe.
There were 70,000 in the Allianz Arena expecting only one outcome. Yet Liverpool have a historic attachment to this competition, too — and, in Jurgen Klopp, a manager who has upset the odds against Munich before.
So this was an exceptional result on three levels: for English football, for Liverpool, and for Klopp. The Premier League has half of the Champions League last eight, Liverpool are treading the same path as last year and Klopp has once again silenced the triumphalism of Munich. It was quite a night.
Liverpool were going through on away goals anyway, but Virgil van Dijk made certain of it. What a buy he has been. Not just a defensive rock, but a man capable of deciding games, too. Here he rose above Mats Hummels in the 69th minute to meet a James Milner corner and leave Munich chasing two goals with 21 minutes to get them. They barely came close.
Instead, it was Liverpool who got a third, Sadio Mane meeting a Mohamed Salah cross at the far post with a brave header for his second goal of the night.
The locals streamed towards the exits, Liverpool having removed their sting even more surely than Munich negated their threat at Anfield. That night, Munich were happy with nil. Liverpool never are. This was the confident display of a team that fancies itself on such occasions.
It wasn’t the greatest match and, incredibly, Liverpool can play better, too — but on results alone it is hard to better. Who comes to Munich and dismantles them so completely?
And so, for the first time since the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons, the Premier League have four teams in the quarter-finals. In the first of those years, only English teams eliminated English teams in Europe; Liverpool beating Arsenal, Chelsea beating Liverpool, Manchester United defeating Chelsea in the final. Might it be the same for Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool this time around? The draw is tomorrow. Watch this space.
Manuel Neuer, it is often said, is the one goalkeeper who could have made a go of it as an outfield player. Here was the reason that might be something of an exaggeration. He certainly wouldn’t have made it as a defender, judging by Liverpool’s first goal.
It wasn’t just that his positioning was poor or his reading of the game rash, more that he was turned inside out by a lovely piece of skill from Sadio Mane. Better he stays between the posts. Certainly it would have been better for Bayern Munich here.
Neuer it was who turned a drama into a crisis. It was always going to be tense, trying to keep a clean sheet against one of the finest forward lines in Europe. The goalless away draw is deceptive. On the face of it a good result, in reality fraught with danger. Concede one in the second leg, and the home team must immediately score two.
All that can be said of the goal Munich conceded was at least it came relatively early, with plenty of time for a counter-reaction.
Yet, undoubtedly, it was Neuer’s doing. There had already been signs that Munich were getting nervy at the back. Sloppy play, simple passes kicked into touch. The goal came from a very rudimentary tactic — a long ball hoofed upfield by Van Dijk for Mane to run on to. He is in rare form these days, with eight goals in nine games coming into this match — and this was the mark of a player at a career peak.
Yes, Mane was a threat but there were still Munich defenders around to cover. Neuer was skittish, however, tearing from his line almost to the edge of his penalty area in an attempt to play sweeperkeeper. He failed dismally. Mane took a delightful touch, spun, and left Neuer for dead. The goal was empty. He clipped the ball towards the far corner, out of the influence of Mats Hummels chasing back in desperation.
IT was a magnificent breakthrough for Liverpool, who until that moment had only mustered a shot wide from Roberto Firmino minutes earlier. Not that Munich had been up to much, mind. Thiago Alcantara had a punt from outside the area after nine minutes but that aside, their domination of possession had not amounted to much.
They didn’t respond instantly to the goal either. The next good chance of the game came after 34 minutes when Mane played in Andrew Robertson, whose low shot at goal was well saved by Neuer. Indeed, when Robert Lewandowski had a lame effort deflected and mopped up easily by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, it
amounted to the first shot on target Munich had mustered in two hours of football across two legs.
James Rodriguez had an attempted chip go wide and when Munich got back in the game after 39 minutes, it was another goal that relied rather heavily on human error.
Serge Gnabry, whom West Brom fans may be mildly surprised to see is now featuring in the knockout stages of the Champions League, burst down the right and got past the usually reliable Robertson. He crossed and Joel Matip, panicked by the appearance of Lewandowski on his shoulder, turned the ball into his own net.
Matip suffers in comparison to the excellent Van Dijk on occasions, but he was trapped here. Facing his own goal, he was an accident waiting to happen but, had he left the ball, Lewandowski would almost certainly have scored.
On the touchline, Jurgen Klopp was going berserk and appeared to be blaming Van Dijk, perhaps for not closing Gnabry down sooner when Robertson was beaten. It was certainly a goal that would have made awkward repeat viewing for more than one Liverpool man.
Did Van Dijk get away with one early on when Lewandowski took a tumble in the area? Referee Daniele Orsato from Italy did not think so, and was confident enough not to involve VAR. He looked a good judge on the replays, Van Dijk getting a first touch on the ball, Lewandowski falling under very little pressure.