When the team news came out, I cannot lie, I was not filled with optimism. Currently with Joe Gomez injured; the back 5 picks itself, and we all know the front 3 definitely does, but it was in midfield where the concerns lay. Wijnaldum, Milner and Henderson had been picked for one of the biggest games of the season, in fact considering how early we had to go away to City in the league, this was arguably the biggest game. That midfield which has been nicknamed the 'Brexit midfield' (despite containing a Dutchman), is full of industry and work rate but one that lacks creativity and serious guile all too often. This meant the early thoughts on social media were of a pessimistic nature. We wanted answers from Klopp of where Fabinho was. We wanted to know if we needed a goal then why possibly was there no Xherdan Shaqiri, or no Adam Lallana after his good performance against Burnley on the weekend. Liverpool fans knew Bayern were in better form than them, and after last seasons' Champions League heroics, they did not want this year to end prematurely. Talk of sacrificing Europe to prolong their title challenge was nonsense, we need to win everything we can, we are Liverpool, and winnings trophies is in our DNA.
I tried my best to remain positive throughout the post team news announcement as this midfield did get us through the important Napoli group decider and was trying to speak my positivity into existence, 'In Klopp we trust'. Liverpool started poorly, they were sloppy in possession and had an awkward moment early when Robert Lewandowski had a penalty appeal turned down after tangling with van Dijk. Within the first 10 minutes also, Henderson picked up a knock, after being attended to, he seemed like he may be able to go on, but he pulled up again just after 5 minutes later and had to be replaced by Fabinho. This went on to be a blessing in disguise amazingly, as the man everyone wanted to start was now on the pitch. Liverpool to be reckless in possession and their only real effort was a shot from distance by Roberto Firmino that flashed wide after some good work from deep by Mo Salah. Bayern came forward after a misplaced pass by Trent Alexander-Arnold and he was fortunately bailed out by good cover by Robertson.
The tie was then spun on its head in the 26th when van Dijk played a nice forward pass into Mane; Mane controlled beautifully first time, sending Rafinha spinning, then as Manuel Neuer emerged from his goal, he turned Neuer, and then with two defenders trying to get back towards goal, he chipped the ball beautifully on his left foot into the net. A quite sublime finish, Leo Messi would have been proud. It was made all the more impressive by the fact Mane is obviously right footed, 1-0 Reds! I have been critical of Mo Salah this season, particularly recently, but he seemed up for this, making a haring run back to his own half to win the ball back, if you not scoring, you can still help the team consolidate. In the 34th minute; Liverpool made a sweeping counter attack and almost made it 2; but Robertson's shot was blocked by Neuer, this was by far Liverpool's best move of the game. Fabinho's presence in the midfield had made a difference. Bayern came up the other end not too long after, and Robertson was caught out of position and van Dijk could get back in place and Serge Gnabry's ball in was deflected into his own goal by Joel Matip, rage 1-1.
Liverpool started the second half, still giving the ball away cheaply, but they caused a little bit of a threat when they were more direct going forward. In the 49th minute: Salah came forward on a Liverpool counter attack and could've passed, but drove a shot straight at Neuer. Neuer actually punched the ball centrally and had someone from Liverpool been more aware he could have been punished. On the hour mark; Bayern almost punished Liverpool for their disjointed play, when Franck Ribery picked out Gnabry with a lovely ball and whipped a tantalising ball across the face of goal that just evaded Lewandowski and James Rodriguez. Liverpool then took the lead, despite them scoring a lot of goals from set pieces, this is mainly due to penalties as overall their corners are not of great quality. Here you felt that had to take one of their chances as they had a couple of corners consecutively, and van Dijk took his header superbly, 2-1 to the Redmen, Bayern now needed 2 goals to stay alive.
Fabinho, had been doing well intercepting play and bringing a calmness to the midfield, despite being booked at the end of the first half and Milner who had not really distributed the ball very well, was still probing and things awkward for Bayern's players. Bayern make two substitutions, bringing on Renato Sanches and Leon Goretzka, but it was Liverpool who made their own change in sending on Divock Origi for Firmino, who got the crucial fourth goal. The 84th minute saw Salah play an exquisite ball with the outside of his foot for Mane who crashed in the goal to send Liverpool through with his head, 3-1. This was redemption for Salah, who not too long before the goal had got himself in behind the Bayern defence with some decent footwork, and could have squared the ball to Mane, but elected to try and shoot himself and Niclas Sule just poked the ball away from him. Bayern were not going to get 3 goals in six minutes plus injury time were they.
So we done it, Liverpool had beaten Bayern, Klopp was the Bavarians' nemesis once again. For all the pre match doubts, Liverpool had got through to the quarter final. We were meant to go out apparently, as we were playing a team that had European pedigree, as in making the final last year we were told we had an easy run. Liverpool were 11/4 before the game and now I wish, I had; had a little flutter on a single for us to win, rather then putting our win in an accumulator. I'm so overjoyed, I honestly do not care who we get, but would not mind getting Porto or Ajax.
@DubulDee
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