Written by Charlie Cheadle
On the face of it, Benfica should be a walk in the park. In their Portuguese league – the Primeira Liga – they sit 14 points behind Porto who, when we faced them last, beat with a 7-1 aggregate. However, it would be naive to take this approach today as this is the Champions League and anything can happen, such as the shock result to Benfica in 2005, which saw Liverpool come crashing out of the cup.
A game of two half’s! I am having visions of the Crystal Palace game earlier on in the season; we were dominant in the first half but sloppy and slow in the second. Konate was simply sensational in the first half, scoring his first champions league goal and demonstrating his potential to be a top centre back, showing strength and pace when holding off attackers. The midfield three – who were yet to play together – were fantastic, ensuring fluid transitions from defence to attack. Whilst Salah looked tired, he did have a few good opportunities along with Mane, who bagged himself a goal from a lovely lay off header by Diaz, who received the ball from a sublime Tent pass.
Second half, the Reds looked tired. They were sloppy in possession and gave Benfica unnecessary opportunities. However, Benefica’s goal could have been prevented if it wasn’t for Konate making a meal of the clearance from a Benfica ball across the goal. Konate was in the running for man of the match until this moment. Nonetheless, the Redmen withstood the pressure and Diaz killed the game off with a goal in the 87th minute.
Alisson: 7
Made a crucial save from Everton’s shot. However, luck was certainly on his side with a few sketchy moments later on in the game.
TAA: 7.5
I could sit and watch Trent pass a football all day long, the diagonal ball he played into Diaz to set up Mane for the first goal was pin-point perfect. He did, however, drop off in the second half.
Konate: 6.5
As mentioned, he had a very strong first half but dropped off in the second. He started strong, winning all his challenges, scoring and controlling the tempo of the game from the back. However, he misses the ball allowing them to score and was sloppy in possession during the second half.
VVD: 6
Other than playing a few sloppy long balls at the start, which is not like him, he didn’t really do anything wrong.
Robertson: 6
A beautiful corner into Konate and made a few good runs in behind. Like VVD, he didn’t do anything too noticeably wrong.
Fabinho: 8
A hoover. When he is in the starting lineup I just feel so confident. He does his job and scarcely makes any mistakes. Hope his is ok from his nasty head knock.
Keita: 8
Keita had one of his better games. He was good in possession most of the time and made a brilliant driving run ending in a peach of a pass into Diaz to score. He did miss a few half chances and a clear header but this can be traded off for the rest of his game.
Thiago: 6
Some silky skills in the fist half and good transitional play. Nevertheless, he was poor in the second half and rightly subbed.
Salah: 5
He has lost a touch of form, having two opportunities in the first half that he would have scored if it were earlier on in the season. Although, he was creating some chances and had some good build up play with the likes of Naby.
Mane: 7
Scores a very well worked goal and plays a nice back heel pass into Salah, who unfortunately squandered the chance.
Diaz: 8.5
I am not going to repeat the rhetoric about him, but he is just so good. A classy goal going around the keeper along with an assist, made him todays man of the match.
Jota: 5
Had a very good chance at the end but the keeper saved it.
Firmino: 5
Some good hold up play.
Henderson: 6
Got the game back under control when he came on.
