ANFIELD — “There are two clubs in this city,” Bill Shankly once famously declared. “Liverpool and Liverpool Reserves”. After Liverpool had won the club a place in the knockout phase of the Champions League, a sort of Liverpool reserve team produced a fifth straight win against the Portuguese league leaders.
Given that the goals came from Thiago Alcantara, who has won this competition twice, and one Mohamed Salah, who danced into the area, put Matheus Uribe flat on his back before sealing the match, the “reserves” tag should not be overstated. This, was, however, a team with something to prove and by and large they proved it.
Nowhere was this truer than in midfield, where because of injury and competition for places Thiago had not lived up to the reputation that accompanied him from Bayern Munich.
In the 37th minute, Alcantara demonstrated why he was revered in Bavaria with a sublime pass that Sadio Mane, a man with nothing to prove to anyone, slotted home with utter certainty. The certainty disappeared once the video referee spotted a fractional offside.
Shortly after the restart, came a shot that brooked no argument. Porto had cleared a free-kick to just beyond the edge of their own area when Thiago struck it venomously into the corner of the net beneath the Kop.
Before the match, it had been suggested that at the age of 30, he might consider returning to Barcelona where it all began for him. On this evidence, Thiago is far too good for the rabble who currently occupy the Nou Camp.
In a sense, the third member of that midfield Tyler Morton, a 19-year-old from Wallasey, had nothing to prove. Jurgen Klopp had remarked that when Morton made his debut at Norwich in the League Cup that as a “well-educated and well-behaved young man he was not overly confident.”
In those intervening two months, he has found that self-belief. During a first half in which Porto played some fast, thrilling football, there was a headline-grabbing moment when Mehdi Taremi had drawn Alisson Becker and squared into an inviting penalty area. Morton, wearing the number 80 – an age he will reach in October 2082 – produced a sliding interception.
THAT IS WORLD CLASS!
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 24, 2021
Just ridiculous from Thiago! ????????
Wait for the angle from behind… ???? pic.twitter.com/21X1XkxW1W
The difference between the League Cup at Carrow Road and a Champions League fixture at Anfield is the lack of time and space. Morton seemed to have no fear of it. His passing under pressure was fast and accurate.
Before Thiago scored, it needed to be. Porto were the better side in the first half, where Liverpool’s best opportunity came when a clearance from their keeper, Diogo Costa struck Mane on the forehead and rebounded straight to Salah, who appeared too surprised to take advantage. Later, Africa’s greatest footballer would show exactly what he could do when he was expecting a pass.
In a sense, the Porto manager, Sergio Conceicao, might have expected Salah to score. He has faced Liverpool three times in the Estadio do Dragao and lost by a collective scoreline of 14-1. On each occasion, his defence was shredded by Klopp’s old guard of Salah, Mane and Firmino.
Given the Porto offices have just been raided by the Portuguese fraud squad, the attentions of the visiting directors might have been elsewhere. The players were not and, should they produce this level of commitment at home to Atletico Madrid, there is every chance they will join Liverpool in the business phase of the competition at the expense of Diego Simeone’s side.
Conceicao’s only complaint would have been that his forwards did not make the most of their openings before Thiago’s intervention. Early on, Liverpool were caught cold by Luis Diaz’s cheetah-like acceleration and Porto’s Brazilian midfielder, Otavio, was denied was seemed a certain goal by a fabulous tackle from behind from Kostas Tsimikas. A fraction out and the boy from Salonika would have paid with a penalty and a red card.
The only disappointment to Anfield’s theatre was seeing Pepe withdraw through injury 25 minutes through what would have been his 100th Champions League fixture. It deprived the Kop a chance to jeer a man who has been booed from the Mersey to the Volga but who has 18 major medals to compensate for all the villainy.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3p2AVWP
Post a Comment