Firmino keeps his eye in to help Liverpool clinch thriller
NEED TO IMPROVE OUR INTENSITY IN SOME AREAS, PSG’S TUCHEL SAYS
Celebrating Liverpool’s stoppage-time winner by covering his left eye, Roberto Firmino was finally able to jest about the injury that nearly denied him a chance to face Paris St-Germain.
Assurances that the scratch on the cornea had cleared up came only hours before kickoff in the Champions League on Tuesday. “I can open the eye again,” Firmino told Jurgen Klopp, according to his manager after the 3-2 victory.
Firmino still had to bide his time to play, starting on the bench and watching as Liverpool threw away a two-goal lead. Firmino had been on the pitch 11 minutes by the time Kylian Mbappe equalised for the French champions in the 83rd minute.
But the French World Cup winner’s carelessness at the other end allowed Firmino to provide a thrilling climax to a pulsating night at Anfield to open Group C.
Mbappe was dispossessed by James Milner and Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk combined to feed the ball to Firmino. The Brazil forward, who injured his eye against Tottenham on Saturday, now had the vision to find the space to weave through the defence and strike the ball low into the net.
“The day before yesterday there was no chance (he could play) and yesterday it didn’t look well,” Klopp said. “This morning he came in and said ‘I’m fine’.”
It all made for painful viewing for PSG coach Thomas Tuchel in his first Champions League game with the French champions. Conceding in the first minute of stoppage time at the end of an electrifying encounter at Liverpool is just what happened when Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund was beaten 4-3 by Klopp’s side in the Europa League quarter-finals in 2016.
“This is what Liverpool do,” Tuchel said. “They press you and they make it hard for you in possession.”
Liverpool show credentials
Four months after the fivetime European champions lost last season’s final to Real Madrid, Liverpool showed their credentials to challenge for the
title again by finding a way to tame Neymar and Mbappe for much of the game. “He’s got to work hard to try to improve,” Tuchel said of Mbappe.
Left back Andy Robertson, who repelled Mbappe’s forays down the right, also showed his attacking ability by setting up the opener. A cross from Robertson was headed in by Daniel Sturridge 30 minutes into his first Champions League start since playing for Chelsea in 2012.
Milner, who was Liverpool’s tireless engine in midfield, then stepped up to the penalty spot when Georginio Wijnaldum was tripped by Juan Bern, doubling the lead in the 36th minute.