Kevin Kilbane
Liverpool will halt Champions League hopes for Pep’s City
THE Champions League quarter-final between Liverpool and Manchester City has the potential to be a classic European tie. Don’t be surprised if it ends up 6-6 on aggregate. Whoever goes through to the semis can definitely go all the way to the final and win it but it is difficult to pick a winner from the two Premier League teams left in the competition.
City obviously won the first Premier League game at the Etihad convincingly but in fairness to Liverpool, until Sadio Mane’s dismissal, it was in the balance.
Jurgen Klopp’s side matched Pep Guardiola’s and they had their chances but for once, Mo Salah had an off day, and he missed a couple of good chances, which has not happened too many times this season.
In the re-match at Anfield, City had 65 per cent possession but they could not live with Liverpool’s front three, who were clinical and exciting on that day.
The outcome could come down to a slack 10 minutes from either side and defensively they both know they are going to be tested to the limit. Liverpool have improved at the rear since Virgil van Dijk joined from Southampton for £75 million and he has brought a calmness to their back four.
Although they were vulnerable to the long ball against Manchester United recently, City will not play that way. Instead they will look to slip passes down the flanks to Gabriel Jesus or Sergio Aguero or Raheem Sterling but van Dijk has the pace and sharper reading of the game to cope with that better than any other Liverpool centre-half.
Andy Robertson has also made a significant difference to Liverpool defensively and it is baffling that it has taken the Scotland international so long to become a regular in Klopp’s side.
Perhaps it was loyalty from the Liverpool manager who stuck with Alberto Moreno initially, but while Robertson may not have his pace, he is clearly no slouch and he is a better defender and more effective going forward, as he demonstrated with an assist for Salah against Watford a couple of weeks ago.
The fact is that it doesn’t matter how good you are sometimes, both sides have players who can hurt you. Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva are capable of opening up any defence in the world and if Aguero is hopefully fit, City have more of an edge than they do when Jesus plays instead.
Liverpool’s front three is as good as any attacking trio in Europe and they have taken it to new levels this season. Of course Salah is the signing of last summer, and he looks like an incredible bargain now, but Firmino and Mane have more than played their part too.
Firmino has improved even more this season, particularly after Philippe Coutinho joined Barcelona,. Mane has not been as consistent as last year, but he has been excellent since Christmas. I still believe the Brazilian is the most complete striker in football and he is perfect in the role for Liverpool.
Mane’s body language did not look great, perhaps he was affected for a while by that sending-off against City earlier in the season, but he just didn’t look like he was happy, even when Klopp was coming onto the pitch and hugging him, he seemed to hold back. He certainly has improved since January, scoring seven goals, though he might have seen red yesterday.
Liverpool won’t change their game-plan and City won’t change theirs, so it is set up for a real classic and it could be that defensive vulnerability on either side will decide the tie.
If one team goes in front in the latter stages of the second tie, the scoreline after 180 minutes could be distorted because one side or the other will have to go for it, and that could hurt either side. I think Liverpool might just do it, simply because they have a bit extra up front.
While Liverpool and City are battling it out in this season’s Champions League, Chelsea and Tottenham’s game at Stamford Bridge today will go a long way towards deciding who qualifies for next season’s competition.
Spurs have an appalling record against Chelsea, winning just five games in the 51 Premier League fixtures, but they have a four-point lead in fourth place and a win today will surely end Antonio Conte’s dream of delivering Champions League football next season.
A great deal will depend on how the Chelsea manager decides to approach this game. He may play it how he did against Manchester City recently because Spurs are also one of the form teams, unbeaten in 18 Premier League games. But the Blues have to be more expansive because they didn’t even have a shot on target at the Etihad and although Eden Hazard, a false nine that day, said this week that he will play wherever the managers tells him, he has to play deeper against the better sides.
If he plays in his usual position, using Alvaro Morata or Olivier Giroud as the No 9, it means Hazard will actually get on the ball in the most dangerous areas.
Spurs are bound to miss Harry Kane. But they have the players to cope and if they can win today, and virtually kill off Chelsea’s top four challenge, they’ll hope to have him back for the Manchester United FA Cup semi-final in a few weeks.