Origi on the mark again as Reds put Milan out in cold
HIGH up in the stands, as the clock ran down, a group of Liverpool fans unfurled a red banner across green tarpaulin to make it stand out.
‘Campione Liverpool,’ it read, simply, and once again you came away from a night in Europe thinking that declaration will ring true in St Petersburg next May.
Beating AC Milan in the San Siro might not be the scalp of old but that should not detract from the achievement.
Liverpool, thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Divock Origi, came from behind to ensure they topped Group B — the one that had been labelled the Group of Death — with a 100 per cent record. Be in no doubt, their rivals for the biggest trophy of them all will have taken that all on board.
AC Milan are seven-time European Cup winners but Liverpool, in this vein, look capable of joining them on that number. It remains to be seen if they stay the distance in the domestic title race but in Europe anything is possible.
There will come a point, in the not so distant future, when this cathedral is no longer here. An new arena is in the planning.
Coming to the San Siro, it is impossible not to think about Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini, those swaggering Dutchmen Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard or Kaka, Andriy Shevchenko and George Weah. AC Milan are a quintessential Champions League club, who enrich the competition.
They were desperate to make the knockout phase for the first time in eight years but that task became a good deal harder in the moment before kick-off when Jurgen Klopp handed in a team sheet complete with Salah, Sadio Mane and Alisson Becker that stated Liverpool’s intent.
‘A lot of people were surprised but we wanted to win,’ said Klopp. ‘This group has a desire and we needed fresh legs.
‘You know, I am so happy the boys showed how good they are, how well-organised and brave they are, how disciplined they are and how cheeky they are.’
They were all of that and more. From the moment young Tyler Morton had the first shot of intent, Liverpool were in control. Morton has started the last two Champions League games and there will be more in the future.
Much of Milan’s effort took them down dead ends. Ibrahima Konate and the outstanding Nat Phillips — who produced a Cruyff turn in his own area in the second half — never put a foot wrong. But the one moment there was a drop-off, Milan scored the goal that got the home crowd roaring.
Konate had done his job when diverting Zlatan Ibrahimovic away to force a corner but Liverpool went to sleep when Junior Messias whipped in a left-footed set-piece and Alisson couldn’t handle it. He succeeded in turning the ball into the path of Fikayo Tomori, who gleefully accepted the gift.
Milan needed to build up a head of steam to save themselves and they needed to keep free-scoring Liverpool at bay until half-time. They couldn’t even hold on for seven minutes.
Liverpool swept up the field and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is finding more consistency with each minute he plays, caught Maignan by surprise with a snapshot from the right side of the penalty area and the goalkeeper fumbled it.
Who was lurking? Salah, of course. The rebound leapt at him but a goal for the Egyptian was the only likely outcome.
And score he did, carefully placing his left-footed effort into the roof of the net.
If you wanted an idea of how much emphasis Klopp had placed on the game, it came in his celebration. There was no cursory arm wave or brief fist shake, this was an excited hopscotch in his technical area, a jig to show he was living the moment.
As soon as Liverpool secured parity, there was a sense of resignation among the home crowd, who also knew they were not going to get the favour they needed in Portugal from the clash between Porto and Atletico Madrid to help them through. Gradually, Liverpool turned the screw.
Early in the second half, they took firm control. They may have benefited from a helping hand as Tomori made a hash of trying to control a ball on the edge of his own area and Maignan’s gloves seemed to be made out of Teflon, as nothing stuck.
Still, Liverpool needed to convert the opportunity and that is what Origi did, with a looping header after Maignan had pushed Sadio Mane’s drive up into the air. What a catalogue of goals Origi is compiling and what a formidable reputation Liverpool are building.
‘I don’t feel pride as I expect good things to happen,’ said Klopp. ‘It is easy to make changes but the boys have to be confident enough to show how good they are. We have won all the games, which is incredible and another chapter in the history of this group of players.’
Keep going like this and plenty more chapters will be written in the future.