Daily Mail

MIRACLE OF ANFIELD

Klopp’s heroes pull off the impossible

- MARTIN SAMUEL Chief Sports Writer

Better than Istanbul? Yes, go on then. It was better than Istanbul. Barcelona are better than AC Milan. Lionel Messi is better than Kaka.

And Liverpool now are better than Liverpool then. Liverpool now are nothing less than astonishin­g.

At the end of this wonderful, unbelievab­le, fantastica­l game, Jurgen Klopp linked arms with his players, facing the Kop as the whole of Anfield,

including some among the bereft Catalan enclave, sang You’ll Never Walk Alone.

One had the feeling this was the moment he had been working towards since the day he set foot on Merseyside. this spirit. this togetherne­ss. this performanc­e. this passion, this emotion: it was all here, every last drop of what he wanted to achieve. And yet, there is still such a long way to go.

Suddenly, however, the potential disappoint­ment of falling a point short to Manchester City on Sunday did not appear so bleak. Liverpool will have something to play for beyond that. they will have a second consecutiv­e Champions League final, but this time,

not against the most experience­d team in Europe. Liverpool will face the winners of tonight’s meeting between Tottenham and Ajax. It could be a perfect ending. Even if it is Manchester City’s season, it might be theirs too.

And they would deserve it like no team before; they would deserve it as much as they did not deserve the three-goal defeat at the Nou Camp that had to be overturned last night. First, by a team shorn of its finest strikers in Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino and then, after half-time, without one of the stand- out players of this season, Andrew Robertson.

Just as Chelsea conquered Europe with Jose Bosingwa at centre half and Ryan Bertrand playing left midfield, Liverpool swept aside Barcelona with Divock Origi leading the line, Xherdan Shaqiri in support and James Milner as a makeshift left back.

What a performanc­e it was. Liverpool did not just defeat Barcelona physically, but technicall­y, tactically, and ultimately intellectu­ally. Barcelona, considered by many the greatest team in Europe, were outsmarted by a 20-year- old from West Derby in Merseyside. Trent AlexanderA­rnold was still thinking when Barcelona stopped for the fourth goal, meaning he sold them a dummy that resonated across the globe, sending Liverpool to Madrid on June 1. What a brain, what audacity. Origi, who has scored some of the most important goals in the history of this club, while being its fifth- choice striker, got what proved to be the winner but Alexander-Arnold was the evil genius behind the move.

Liverpool won a corner and Alexander-Arnold walked over to the ball by the flag, before seeming to change his mind about taking it and stepping away. Barcelona, at that moment, relaxed, regrouped, some even turned their backs to reset for the new taker. At which point, Alexander-Arnold switched direction and whipped it in.

Origi met the ball first time, hit the net and Barcelona stood baffled. That old one? How could they be so foolish? How could they be so… out?

Yet out they are. Magnificen­tly out. Stupendous­ly out. Liverpool did not even need extra time. They overturned a three-goal deficit, and deserved it. Istanbul had elements of luck. Even in that seismic second-half Liverpool were not entirely dominant and the game actually ended a 3-3 draw. This was different. This was a magnificen­t performanc­e, of not just courage but footballin­g excellence.

There is so much more to Liverpool than that ferocious press, yet, on nights like this, it is those moments that resonate. How do they keep it up? How, amid the hardest fought title race in history, do they find the energy for this? Liverpool were ahead early but a single away goal would have left them needing five.

So when Robertson left the field it seemed as if obstacles were mounting against them. And it did change the game, but, ironically, for the better — because it introduced another of the night’s matchwinne­rs: Georginio Wijnaldum.

To call him a super sub really doesn’t do it justice. Super subs are strikers, chucked on as a last resort. Wijnaldum had a meatier role, shoring up midfield, so Milner could go to full back. But he had bigger plans. He turned the match on its head, instead.

It was Wijnaldum’s second-half goals that brought Liverpool level and shook Lionel Messi and Barcelona to their foundation­s. When Liverpool scored the first there was hope — but few could have imagined this, two goals in three minutes to level the aggregate score at 3- 3, and give Liverpool the momentum for a final push to victory.

Wijnaldum has a knack for it at this stage in the competitio­n. He has scored only one other Champions League goal and that was in the semi-final against Roma last year. That was another crazy tie, although after this we may have to redefine lunacy. So let’s keep it simple. This is how Wijnaldum brought Barcelona to their knees.

In the 54th minute, he arrived late into the box to meet a perfect cross from Alexander-Arnold. His shot was low and straight and maybe goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen should have done better. He didn’t, meaning Liverpool were a goal away. Then, two minutes later, Shaqiri hit a lovely cross that Wijnaldum met with a header. Level. But more than that, really because from there, it seemed there could only be one winner.

Salah was in the stand wearing a shirt with the message ‘Never give up’ and the reason Liverpool could still feel the slightest smidgen of optimism after conceding three at the Nou Camp is that if Barcelona lose in Europe, they tend to do so spectacula­rly. Their last four

defeats in this competitio­n have been by 3-0, 3-0, 4-0 and 4-0. Scoring early against them tends to have a very positive effect, too, so the mood once Liverpool went ahead after seven minutes went beyond euphoria towards frenzy.

From the start, Liverpool were on the front foot, ferocious, ambitious, swarming all over Barcelona, allowing them no time on the ball, and precious little to think. Yet it wasas still an impossible dream. Origi’s’s goal, however, transforme­d it.

Jordan Henderson — a lion, on, as always on these occasions ah — battled through after a poor Jordi Alba header had set up Sadio Mane, but looked to have wasted his chance when his shot flew too near to ter Stegen. He only parried it, however, and Origi — the hero of Saturday’s s win over Newcastle — drove ve it into the unattended net. t.

Of course, this is Barcelona, ona, meaning Alisson had to bee at his best on more than one occasion.asion Yet this was a very fine performanc­e rather than one where the goalkeeper wins man of the match. He saved from Alba, from Messi, from Luis Suarez — yet nothing we hadn’t see before. there was no fortune in Liverpool’s win, no reason for Barca to feel hard done by.

the pre-match soundtrack at Anfield told its own story. Songs about happy outcomes, dreams and belief. And it is easy to be cynical about that old cliche, the famous european nights at Anfield — but they exist. this ground is rarely home to the mundane or expected.

Klopp’s instructio­n, if Liverpool were to fail, was to ‘fall brilliantl­y’. Maybe that’s what he thought would happen, too. Maybe that’s why, at the end, he was as lost in the moment as any Kopite. Because they did not fail, not even brilliantl­y. they gave this stadium arguably the greatest european night it has ever witnessed. And that, as you know, is saying something.

 ??  ?? Crazy night: Gini Wijnaldum celebrates his header which made it 3-0, and Jordan Henderson gives chase
Crazy night: Gini Wijnaldum celebrates his header which made it 3-0, and Jordan Henderson gives chase
 ??  ??
 ??  ??
 ?? REUTERS ?? History man: Origi slots the ball home for Liverpool’s decisive fourth goal
REUTERS History man: Origi slots the ball home for Liverpool’s decisive fourth goal
 ??  ?? Corner of heaven: Alexander-Arnold whips the ball in for the winner
Corner of heaven: Alexander-Arnold whips the ball in for the winner

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom