KLOPP COMES A CROPPER
LiVErPOOL’S hopes of defending their Champions League title suffered a major blow last night.
A Diego Simeone masterclass saw them go down 1-0 at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 tie.
Manager Jurgen Klopp admitted he was forced to substitute Sadio Mane for fear of him being sent off after he was targeted by Atletico Madrid’s dark arts.
‘Their plan was to get Sadio out of the game,’ said Klopp, whose side were beaten by Saul niguez’s fourth-minute goal. ‘ i was afraid that Sadio’s opponent would go TURN TO PAGE 79, COL 2
Look, they came back from 3-0 down against Barcelona. This is Anfield, remember. The place where miracles happen. Yet something about Atletico Madrid’s sheer cussedness last night suggests putting two past them, even for Liverpool at home, is going to be just as hard as the four against the Catalans.
This was a stunning rearguard action from Atletico, made all the more impressive by the length of their endurance having taken the lead after just four minutes.
Factoring in stoppage time, they had to hold out for 90 minutesplus against the best attacking team in Europe. They did it. Not prettily, not always comfortably, but with determination that is rare these days — the determination to simply defend.
The best of Jose Mourinho’s sides can do that and the best of Diego Simeone’s. Those two are pretty much alone these days, though, as elite coaches.
Liverpool work hard, but their emphasis is on going forward. Atletico scored early and, as the saying goes, shut up shop. There are few shop- shutters left in modern football. In its own way, then, this was rather beautiful — certainly unique.
This was only the second game of Jurgen klopp’s Liverpool tenure in which his team could not muster a shot on target and his frustration showed.
He was booked by referee Szymon Marciniak, of Poland, who ran from the far side of the pitch to the technical area to brandish the card. klopp’s voice must have some carry, given the noise in the stadium, or a long-suffering official must have finally grown weary and sounded the alarm.
Before the game, klopp said he was a four on the touchline lunacy scale compared to Diego Simeone’s 12 and it is hard to disagree having once again seen the Argentine in action. When he wasn’t screaming at his players he was screaming at the crowd to do more screaming themselves.
A favourite moment occurred in the first half when a ball went into touch. Simeone picked it up, decided he didn’t like it, discarded it like a player on Wimbledon Centre Court and instructed the ball boy to throw a spare into play.
Yet there is a reason Simeone is the highest-paid club manager in the world and it was made obvious here.
Atletico have not conceded in 11 of their last 12 Champions League knockout games on home territory and the moment they took an early lead here it was obvious the sort of night Liverpool had in store.
koke, the captain and a fine, imaginative midfielder, immediately fell in at surrogate right back to deal with Andy Robertson.
on the other flank, Trent Alexander-Arnold could not get in range of the Madrid goal and was reduced to hitting hopeful balls from deep that often flew too long.
In the first 30 minutes, Liverpool managed one touch between them inside Atletico’s penalty area.
Their only chance of the first half was a Mo Salah shot that was deflected for a corner by Felipe. It is hard to recall when Liverpool have looked less threatening. They have not even been behind in 21 matches in all competitions, since trailing Napoli on November 27.
That changed after only four minutes here. Madrid won a corner, swept in by koke and deflected by Fabinho, who was looking a little rusty having missed a chunk of the season through injury.
The ball squirmed to Saul Niguez, who turned it past Alisson from close range. Briefly it looked as if VAR might intervene, but even if Fabinho’s touch had been ruled entirely inadvertent, Virgil van Dijk was playing the Madrid man onside. From that moment, the omens were not good. Atletico have never lost a game when Saul has scored — it stands at 33 wins and four draws now.
It could have got worse, and swiftly, had Robertson not diverted a cross from Thomas Lemar which appeared to be heading in the direction of Angel Correa, unmarked on the far side.
Scoring goals has been Madrid’s problem in what many consider a season of transition and followers of Chelsea will have an idea why.
Alvaro Morata was their attacking spearhead here, a striker who spent more time on the floor in his spell at Stamford Bridge than a one-legged drunk in a can-can line. He made an utter hash of his two chances, one in each half.
It was another error in Liverpool’s defensive line that let him in after 26 minutes — never have Van Dijk or Fabinho appeared so vulnerable — and Morata sped through with only Alisson to beat, before shooting straight at him. In the second half a Madrid counter-attack through Renan Lodi was played into Morata in a lovely position to finish the match, maybe even the tie given Atletico’s powers of resistance, but calamity ensued. Morata panicked, slipped and skied.
No wonder Simeone was more intent on holding what Madrid had than going in search of a more emphatic victory. At half-time, off came Lemar, on came Marcos Llorente, a young player adept at holding midfield.
For his part, klopp replaced Sadio Mane, who had a quiet 45 minutes, with Divock origi at halftime, but it was Salah who enjoyed Liverpool’s best chance, heading a long ball from Joe Gomez wide.
Yet while Liverpool enjoyed 75 per cent possession for much of the game, Madrid’s resistance was as powerful. By the end, klopp had lost his composure, Mane —
although a booking and some Madrid pressure to get the decision elevated to red may have played a part there — and Salah in his desperation to break through.
it is rare we see Liverpool frustrated like this, but a replica Atletico Madrid does not exist in English football. Even at bottom club norwich on Saturday, Liverpool faced a team who wanted to attack. Madrid don’t.
Once they took the scrambled lead, they were happy for Liverpool to have the ball and to retreat into space-crushing banks.
At Anfield next month, they will start as they played here. if they can kill the game with a counterattacking away goal, fine.
if not, they will be happy to have a goalless draw as the height of their ambition.
it is true that Atletico are no Barcelona, but Liverpool had shots on target at the nou Camp last season. They didn’t here.