KLOPP SAVED BY HIS BIG GUNS
Firmino’s strike kills off valiant Mexicans
By the time it came to the 85th minute Jurgen Klopp had seen enough. He had thrown on Sadio Mane alongside Mohamed Salah. He had introduced Trent Alexander-Arnold instead of James Milner at full back.
It was no good. It was time to get the band back together.
So on came Roberto Firmino for Divock Origi. If that couldn’t break the deadlock, nothing would. It did. That is what was required to beat a supposedly mid-table club from Mexico. The strongest available XI from the strongest team in the Premier League. The first- choice forward trident jabbing at tired legs.
So much for the Mickey Mouse cup, then. So much for a meaningless game that had been misguidedly prioritised over the quarterfinals of the weakest domestic cup competition. Monterrey may occupy eighth place in the Primera Liga this season but that could be because they take the Club World Cup seriously, and it has been a distraction for them. We do the global game enormous disrespect when we talk this competition down. There are some talented coaches, players and teams out there.
To win, Klopp (below) had to throw on every weapon in his elite arsenal. Every world-class forward, the best young defender in Britain. He thought, perhaps, he could keep some strength in reserve for the meeting with Flamengo of Brazil on Saturday. He was wrong. Monterrey deserved to be level going into secondhalf added time and had enough chances to win. One of the players a beaming Klopp congratulated most heartily was goalkeeper Alisson and with good reason. He needed to be at his best here; and Firmino at his most clinical.
For the plan worked. Klopp’s changes produced a 91st-minute winner. Salah worked and worked to catch a break on the right against stout resistance, eventually getting the ball back to Alexander-Arnold. He crossed hard and low to the near post and Firmino flicked it past goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero.
And there it was: the touch of class that is always likely to separate teams here, now that UEFA’s entrants are so widely international. It took an Anglo-Egyptian-Brazilian combination to eliminate Monterrey, and two African players to combine to give Liverpool the initial lead. The very least we can do is let the world’s players give a little back to the world game and begrudge their participation.
At times there was a very real danger Liverpool could be out at the first attempt. Monterrey tired in the second half and made full use of their bench, but they still forced chances. Dorlan Pabon, the captain, had a good free-kick from 25 yards saved, and another shot travel wide after 66 minutes, while Joe Gomez was lucky to be shown only a yellow card for hauling down Rogelio Funes Mori on the break. He was a distance from goal and Jordan Henderson — a makeshift centre half replacement for the indisposed Virgil van Dijk — may have been getting round to cover, but refereeing at FIFA tournaments tacks towards the random, and more controversial reds have most certainly been given.
When Gomez handled later, and Monterrey coach Antonio Mohamed protested he should have been shown a second yellow, he and Klopp were both booked for arguing. It was increasingly tense for Liverpool, and Alisson also did well to tip a shot round from Leonel Vangioni after 65 minutes.
So, sympathy for Monterrey even if outright support for the underdog was in short supply here. The locals were firmly in the red corner, and no prizes for guessing the identity of their favourite player. Salah is, understandably, the hero in these parts and they cheered his name, and every time he touched the ball.
Which was quite often, given that he was Liverpool’s peak performer over the 90 minutes. Indeed, when Salah set up Naby Keita for the first goal in the 11th minute it seemed for a moment as if the gulf between these sides would be a negative for the tournament. Fortunately, the fears proved false. Monterrey equalised in the 14th minute and forced two excellent opportunities before half-time. Liverpool are the better side, plainly, but Monterrey may have shaded it on chances.
Even the Mo Salah Fan Club would have to concede that.
So this was a good game for the competition, a meeting of the champions from Europe and CONCACAF that wasn’t as lop-sided as had been predicted. Liverpool’s first goal, however, showed why it is so hard for clubs from other continents to wrest this crown from UEFA’s entrants, two
Africans combining sublimely, but both contracted to an elite force from Europe.
It was Salah who created it with a quite stunning reverse pass, threaded through the eye of the needle, into the path of Keita, who barely broke stride and finished first time past Barovero. In that moment, it was possible to imagine a victory as emphatic as that of Aston Villa against Liverpool’s Under 23 team on Tuesday night.
Thankfully, Monterrey had other ideas. Just three minutes had elapsed when a scramble at the back brought them level. Vangioni played the ball in, only half-cleared by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. It
was recycled via Cesar Montes, parried by Alisson and turned in by Funes Mori, twin brother of former Everton man Ramiro. That will have gone down well on one side of Merseyside at least.
From there, Monterrey could have got two more. Pabon forced a good save from Alisson after 27 minutes and, soon after, the same player delivered a wicked cross which the goalkeeper diverted with his fingertips before Funes Mori could turn it in at the far post.
Liverpool also had opportunities in what was a pleasingly open game. After 23 minutes a delightful back-heel from Salah put in Milner but Barovero saved at his feet. Oxlade-Chamberlain almost set Keita up for his second with another perfectly weighted ball three minutes from half-time but the Argentine goalkeeper was equal to it once more. And after 74 minutes Origi turned on a cross from Milner, but the ball struck Mane and went wide.
Klopp said his team hadn’t flown 3,000 miles to lose and his expression at the end confirmed the seriousness of Liverpool’s intent. It won’t be any easier against Flamengo, either. But why would it? After all, this is the world championship, not the League Cup.