"Playing against Atlético is one of the most difficult things in a footballer's life," said Jurgen Klopp ahead of the visit to the stadium where his team won the Champions League at the beginning of June last year.
If they didn't take him seriously yesterday and in the preparation of the match, his players now know what he was talking about - they didn't score a goal for only the second time this season, it's hard to remember when they were so weak in attack (without a shot on goal), so 11 March at Anfield, they will have to fight for a place in the quarterfinals.
Atletico won 1:0, with a game "made by Simeone", in which our Stefan Savić was one of the most dominant figures.
As it turned out, Atletico achieved a great victory over a stronger and better team in the 4th minute, after a corner. The ball bounced off the leg of Fabinja, whose field of vision was reduced by Savić in the jump, to Koke in the box, and the home midfielder's reaction was quick - 1:0.
Thanks to such a start, Atlético could more calmly set up the game as it usually does and as it knows best. The double block, good placement and good movement in the defensive formation made it impossible for the guests to impose themselves with attacking potential, throwing in from the second plan, penetrations by the backs...
Liverpool was dominant and harmless, Atletico withdrawn and more dangerous - Morata could have doubled the advantage, created a position for a shot, but his shot from 7-8 meters was stopped by Alisson.
The first chance for the "reds" was waited for a long time, until the 35th minute, when the block was broken for the first time, and Salah's header into the corner was deflected by the excellent Felipe. Mane was nervous, Firmino unremarkable...
Klopp introduced Origi instead of Mane at the beginning of the resumption, and in the first ten minutes his team exerted the greatest pressure since the beginning of the match, which resulted in only one chance - Salah beat the post from a good position with his head.
Atlético rarely came out of their own half, but two outs brought two great situations in front of the rival's goal - Vrsaljko got tangled up, and Morata slipped quite a bit, slipping ten meters from the goal, after an excellent action started by Savić and continued by Renan Lodi.
20 minutes before the end, Klopp unexpectedly replaced Salah, until the end he trusted only Firmino from the terrifying trio, while Simeone launched Diego Costa, after almost four months of injury.
His influence was not great, but, what was most important for the "Kolćoneros", none of Klopp's substitutions disturbed the defensive block in front of Oblak, who did not have a single defense in 90 minutes!
Bonus video:
