Fabinho is Liverpool’s life-saver as he holds the thin red line
SHORN of key attacking players, this was not the real Bayern Munich. Nor, for reasons unknown, was it the real Liverpool.
What it was, then, was one of those European matches we used to get in the old days, when every round was straight knockout. Cagey, risk-free and, if we are honest, a little flat.
This was a Liverpool European night but not as we know it. Absent was the helter- skelter and in its place a match between two giants of the game that only occasionally lived up to its stellar billing.
Just as well, then, that Liverpool did not concede a goal. Just as well, equally, that players such as Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Thomas Muller were not playing for the opposition.
Had this been a Bayern line-up of yore, it is unlikely Liverpool would be heading to Bavaria in three weeks with a clean sheet to bolster them.
Bayern were unusually lacking in ambition. They sought to contain. The fact that they were facing a Liverpool centraldefensive pairing that comprised the fourth best centre half at the club and a central midfield player was not enough to tempt the Germans to engage.
If Robben — injured — and Ribery — on the bench — had been playing last night, it might have been a different story.
Liverpool are not currently at their best. All teams go through these periods of uncertainty during a long season and Jurgen Klopp’s players are hanging on a little as they wait for real form to return.
As such, this was not the worst result. A goal for Liverpool in the Allianz Arena next month gives them a fantastic chance. That night they will not be forced to field Joel Matip and Fabinho at the heart of their defence.
This was the problem that stalked Liverpool here. With Virgil van Dijk suspended and Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren injured, Klopp was seeking solutions. At the end of the 90 minutes, the Liverpool manager must have felt he’d got away with it.
Bayern did carry a threat from wide positions. Serge Gnabry on the left was impressive, and Kingsley Coman on the right was even better. At times in the first half, they worried Liverpool and the challenges facing Matip and Fabinho were clear.
Fabinho is not a defender, and Matip is not quite good enough for this level.
Matip, 27, has played a lot of football in the Bundesliga, so Bayern would have known he is competent in the air and quick over the ground. But they would also have known he can look coltish in possession and makes poor positional decisions.
That was probably why Bayern coach Niko Kovac instructed striker Robert Lewandowski to push up on the Cameroon player early on, suspecting it was he rather than his makeshift defensive partner who was likely to err.
Matip and Fabinho looked equally vulnerable early on, and Bayern were also encouraged by the erratic footwork of Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson. Defensive calmness tends to start with a team’s keeper but Alisson has not been at his best recently.
He saved importantly with his chest as Matip almost diverted a Gnabry cross into his own goal. But he and Matip then got in a muddle with successive poor clearances to allow Coman to shoot, before a poor Fabinho header gave Lewandowski a sight of goal.
A night of persistent Bayern pressure would have, in all likelihood, only increased Liverpool’s problems. An early goal for the Germans and they could have rolled Liverpool over.
But as Klopp’s midfield slowly took a hold of the game, so the Bayern threat receded. In the end, Fabinho was called on to make only one decisive contribution, early in the second half, and he responded well.
Coman’s break down the left was immediately threatening and his low ball into the penalty area was perfect for Lewandowski.
The Poland striker received it with his back to goal on the six-yard line.
It was a situation fraught with danger for Fabinho. One false move and Lewandowski would turn and score. Another and the Brazilian would concede a penalty.
So, his tackle had to be decisive and perfect in weight and timing. It was all of those things — a life-saver, you could say — and Liverpool were able to move back upfield with the great Bayern striker left on the ground.
It felt like a key moment in the game and may well transpire to be, in terms of the tie.
The return leg at Bayern will be different, more open. In Munich, they are nervous of Klopp because he has hurt them before as the manager of Borussia Dortmund. It is conceivable that he will find a way to do so again.