Tense and tactical contest harks back to days of old
So, two of the Champions League’s most historic clubs produce a classic European first leg – but thereby not exactly a game for the ages.
This 0-0 at Anfield was much more in-keeping with the tactical and tense games that characterised continental football when Liverpool and Bayern Munich were racking up most of their triumphs in this competition, and quite removed from the rapturous high-scoring games this stadium, and this whole competition, enjoyed last season; not to mention what we’ve seen for most of the home side’s league season. Liverpool’s emotional investment in that race weighs on everything else, just as the prospect of an away goal – like so many European matches of old – now weighs so much more ominously on the second leg in Munich.
The fact Liverpool did not concede one here – and that despite the absence of the injured Virgil van Dijk – would make you presume they will be happier with this result, but Bayern seemed more and more content to come away with a 0-0 as the game wore on.
Their opening burst settled into a more restrained display, the contest playing out into a kind of detente.
It was a more calculated game than Liverpool are used to, yes, but curiously a more error-strewn one too. That was one other reason for the absence of goals, beyond the diminished pace and tone of the fixture. This was not helter-skelter Liverpool, nor all-commanding Bayern. Both sides were guilty of sloppiness in the spells when things suddenly sped up.
With Bayern, this was perhaps the influence of an underwhelming league season. Joshua Kimmich seemed particularly – and uncharacteristically – vulnerable for them. He was often targeted by Mane, and more often guilty of choosing the wrong option.
It was no coincidence that some of the intricate interchanges that characterised Liverpool’s best play went around or inside him. It was just no benefit when Mane was having one of those games when he miscues so much. That miss on 32 minutes was among his worst, not just for how close it was but how badly he screwed it wide. This spell did however bring the booking that will now keep Kimmich out of the second leg.
There was more uncertainty in Liverpool’s defence around that period, but the main reason for that was so much more obvious. Everyone was right to so mention the absence of Van Dijk, even though it should not be overlooked that Liverpool did force a cleansheet in his absence. That should not be sniffed against a side as accomplished as this, but it just wouldn’t be something you’d want to do too often. Without Van Dijk, it really was as if the entire backline was without someone to take control – maybe even to tell them what to do.
How else to explain Andrew Robertson having what often felt his worst game since joining, and being guilty of so many bad passes? He struggled against Serge Nabry, who again showed himself to be a forward
of so much ability. There was then the moment when Fabinho and Joel Matip got confused about who was supposed to go for an aerial ball – something that would just never happen with Van Dijk there – as well as Bayern’s willingness to get at Alisson.
There was a disproportionate amount of these errors in the opening 20 minutes, which emphasised how Liverpool did settle down, but it was something that was still always there.
Then again, Jordan Henderson and Naby Keitha were always there, too. It was just as well they were having two of their best games in some time. Keita was certainly having his best half since joining the club, so good was he in the opening 45 minutes. Past experience of how Bayern play no doubt suited him, as did the different pace of the game to the Premier League, but what was particularly reassuring was how he was so often setting that pace. He was the player injecting intensity into Liverpool’s attacks, initiating the surges that suddenly saw the attacking line come to life.
It was also down to them that Liverpool eventually wrested control of the ball – and the midfield – from Bayern. After a long period in the first half when the Bundesliga champions seemed to reminding everyone why they have so often been Champions League semi-finalists and how this level is such an elevation in quality, Liverpool reminded the Germans they’ve already proven they have risen to it.
It left what we have going to Munich: a stalemate. But hopefully the stage for something better.