IT’S A KOP FLOP FOR KLOPP
Liverpool facing a final-game decider after they blow 3-0 half-time lead at Sevilla
JURGEN KLOPP wanted to make a point. It was time to leave the cramped Sevilla press room but not before he had made one last statement.
‘We have to remember,’ he said, slowly, ‘that we have not lost.’
Perhaps it was said for his own benefit as much as anyone else’s. Here was another of those nights that only seem to happen to Liverpool and maybe Klopp was trying to preserve his sanity by not thinking too deeply about the calamity he had witnessed.
From what should have been an unassailable position and progress into the knockout stages as group winners, Liverpool now face an anxious night against Spartak Moscow in two weeks when a defeat will leave themhem facing Europa Leagueue football.
There is somethingg about this club and three-goal leads that guarantees drama. But Klopp could have done without his players stumbling around like drunks in the dark as a 3-0 lead became a 3-3 draw to leave theirir manager looking increasingly asbetter? befuddled.
‘Could we have done better? 100 per cent,’ said Klopp.opp ‘ Do I think it’s a mentality problem? 100 per cent not. It was misjudgment. We wanted to play like we played the first half and control the game, but then we became a little bit passive. It’s football. Until the final whistle, everything is possible.’
The locals had promised the start of the evening would be spectacular and they were right.
The stadium was illuminated by a dazzling light show before the teams came out. That, though, was nothing compared to what happened when the action started. Liverpool roared out of the traps and the intensity of their first attack set the tone.
From kick-off, Sadio Mane won a corner and Liverpool instantly had Sevilla by the throat — Philippe Coutinho whipping his delivery to Gini Wijnaldum, who stole in aahead of SeSergio Escudero dEscuderoer and glanced a header to the back postpost. Roberto Firmino was waiting to finish and, after 84 seconds, Liverpool had the lead. They could now sit back and kill the hosts on the counter-attack. It was precisely what happened.
Sevilla had opportunities to equalise in the 19th and 20th minutes.
First Nolito saw Loris Karius push a shot on to a post, then Wissam Ben Yedder pulled a shot wide when clean through.
The arm-waving, teeth-clenched fury of Klopp illustrated how precarious the position was at that juncture and the idea that a loss of concentration would halt their plans left the German growling. By the half-hour, Liverpool had scored two more because Sevilla did not learn their lessons.
Another Coutinho corner in the 24th minute was met by Firmino and he guided the ball into the same area where he had pounced early on.
Mane did the damage on this occasion, diving in to power his header beyond Sergio Rico.
Firmino was having a game that showed why he is so adored by Klopp and is described by his manager as ‘the engine of our team’.
He was a pest, running, chasing and snapping — every move taking Sevilla’s back four deeper into trouble.
Had there been similar ruthlessness in the last 15 minutes of the first half — Mo Salah smashed a shot high over the bar, then saw another chance stopped by Rico — the second period would have been stress-free. But Liverpool being Liverpool, there had to be drama.
Again, it was self-inflicted. Did they remember nothing from the Europa League final? As was the case that night in Basle, a position of dominance inexplicably became a fight for survival.
To keep the narrative going, Alberto Moreno’s game disintegrated against his former team.
First, he gave away a free-kick in the 51st minute that enabled Ever Banega to pick out Ben Yedder and his glancing header transformed the mood of the stadium, the whistles and jeers being replaced by impassioned pleas for all-out attack.
From cruising along serenely, Liverpool were now taking on water. Soon enough they were listing and lurching as Moreno failed to control a pass from Coutinho and exacerbated his error by standing on Ben Yedder’s foot. It was a penalty and nobody in red bothered to argue otherwise.
In the hullabaloo, several players encroached before Ben Yedder’s first spot-kick but the Frenchman kept his composure after he had been made to retake it and put his shot to Karius’s right, having beaten him the first time to his left. With 30 minutes to go, Klopp was staring at a calamity.
Standing with arms outstretched, bewilderment written all over his face, he could not fathom why this was happening.
Really, he should know by now. Liverpool will continue to be an accident in waiting because their defence is not good enough.
Sevilla should have completed a stunning comeback in the 62nd minute when Escudero charged into the area and took a pass on his chest but Karius was equal to the task this time, once again sticking out a hand to turn a