Three goals inside 30 minutes meant the atmosphere at Anfield was electric for the full 90 minutes and lived up to the expectations of a typical European night on Merseyside. The Reds are now unbeaten in their last 15 European games at home and if this form continues Liverpool will be hoping that they can add a sixth European trophy to their collection.
The Reds have now scored 31 goals in 9 Champions League games making them the UCL top scorers in 2017/18.
Salah just gets better and better
After scoring in last night games, Mo Salah now had 38 goals for the season. After initiating the counter attack by sprinting out of his own and half at the city defenders, he slipped the ball into the path of Roberto Firmino who’s shot was saved by Ederson, Firmino did not give up and managed to poke the ball to Salah who took a touch with his right and smashed it into the net with his left. The game nowadays demands more from forwards and the way Salah, Firmino and Mane have been performing this season they are certainly living up to the standards.
It was worrying when Salah trudged over to the Liverpool bench and went down feeling his groin, speaking after the game Klopp said that Salah told him he felt slight pain in his groin but everything was fine and that he was taken off as a precaution considering the we play Everton in the early kick-off on Saturday and have the second leg vs Manchester City on Tuesday night. Fingers crossed that Salah isn’t injured and that he able to feature in both of those games.
Pep’s poor away record
Pep Guardiola is one of the world’s best coaches and fans can’t deny that Manchester City are a great team but last night’s defeat only adds to Pep’s poor away record in European knock-out tie.
In all 23 of his Champions league career away legs, he has only won five, drawn 10 and lost nine. His players did not perform last night and seemed conscious of the danger that Liverpool are capable of imposing and it was only a matter of time before Klopp’s men struck.
You’ve also got to look at how Liverpool defended, there were a few moments during the game were City threatened or they had much more possession than I would have liked during the game but there was never a moment were we were really under pressure and the fact that the soon to be champions of England did not register a shot on target during the whole 90 minutes proves how well the players coped with city.
Jurgen Klopp is the most successful manager in games against all teams Pep Guardiola has manages with a total of seven wins and hopefully on Tuesday night he can make that eight.
Alexander-Arnold proves the haters wrong
The one thing that I was most nervous for before the game kicked off was the Trent vs Sane battle that would take place. A lot of fans have criticised Trent this season, myself included, and were calling for Clyne to make his comeback during this game. However, I think it would have been too soon and too big of an occasion for Clyne to start and with Gomez out injured there was no one else but Trent to take up the right-back position and what a game he had!
- 77 Touches
- 10 clearances
- 8 duels won
- 7 interceptions
- 4 tackles won
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also put in a brilliant performance last night. When Klopp first bought him a lot of fans were wondering why we were paying £40 million for him. He was also mocked by Arsenal fans when he left and yet here he is scoring a 25-yard screamer at the Kop end against Manchester City in the Champions league quarter-final while they are struggling to get into the top four and playing Europa League football.
Article by Lauren Black – @LaurenBlack9
His all-round performance last night was outstanding and up against some of the best midfielders in Europe, he tore through them and put in a great shift that should confirm his place for the next game. His attitude and work ethic is something Liverpool fans appreciate and I look forward to seeing him hold down a regular place in our midfield.
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