Reds’ ‘Fab Four’ fail to spark in Moscow

SPARTAK MOSCOW

Fernando 22

LIVERPOOL

Coutinho 31

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Liverpool’s eight-year wait for an away win in the Champions League continued in Russia as Jurgen Klopp’s much-vaunted “Fab Four” failed to strike the right chord in the 1-1 draw with Spartak Moscow.

The best two of his attacking quartet, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane, combined for the former to equalise Fernando’s free-kick in the first half.

But, as a unit, there were more misses than hits in their first competitive start together, as a second successive draw in the competition made it just three wins in the last 14 group matches for Liverpool. The outcome handed the advantage to Sevilla, who lead Group E by two points after their win over Maribor.

Coutinho, Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino had previously only played seven competitive minutes together in the Champions League opener with Sevilla when Coutinho came on as a substitute.

Klopp’s decision to rotate his goalkeepers could be one which comes back to haunt him. Loris Karius is the man preferred for the Champions League and he still has some convincing to do after seemingly being slow to react as Fernando curled in a 25-yard 22ndminute free-kick.

Mane was flagged offsideashestooped to head in Trent Alexander-arnold’s cross before Coutinho, pictured, exchanged passes with Mane to burst through and clip an angled shot past Artem Rebrov for the equaliser in the 31st minute. Harry Kane delivered a Champions League masterclass by hitting a hat-trick and leading Tottenham to a 3-0 demolition of Apoel Nicosia.

There are few superlatives left to describe Kane’s relentless goalscoring form but the striker broke new ground in Cyprus with his first treble in Europe’s premier club ompetition.

A cool first-half finish set Spurs on their way before two