5 Things we learned from Liverpool’s comeback against Atletico Madrid
That’s a massive win for Liverpool and Andoni Iraola, going into this game all that mattered for Liverpool was the three points but I thought their overall performance on the night was brilliant. Atletico Madrid started the much better side and were getting out of Liverpool’s press easily which eventually led to the opening goal just 16 minutes in as Julian Alvarez played a brilliant ball through to who else but Marcos Llorente who scored his 5th goal in three games at Anfield, from there Liverpool did wake up and created a number chances for the likes of Barcola and Wirtz which were saved by Oblak but it did look like an equaliser was inevitable. The goal did then come in the 40th minute after Barcola’s effort was saved by Oblak but the ball fell to Araujo who flicked it masterfully to Szoboszlai who buried the ball past the Slovenian goalkeeper to get Liverpool level going into half-time, I don’t know what Iraola said at half-time but his side came out with an electricity that we haven’t seen yet under the Spaniard which led to Barcola running clean through on goal in the opening minutes before putting the ball just wide of the post. Just a minute later though Rio Ngumoha beat Marcos Llorente on the left before crossing the ball which was poorly cleared by Alex Baena straight to Mac Allister on the edge of the box who rifled Liverpool in front right at the start of the second half, from there it was all Liverpool who took control of the game limiting Simeone’s side to half-chances which never really troubled Alisson in the net. Iraola’s side saw out the game to take all three points in their first Champions League game of the season.
A much better second half gets Liverpool over the line. In the first 45 minutes I think we saw the problems we’ve been seeing all season so far in that Atleti were getting out of Liverpool’s press far too easily and knocking the ball about with relative ease creating a number of chances that could have had Iraola’s side 0-2 down, the opening goal summed it up with one ball into midfield taking out about three Liverpool players before Alvarez easily slid Llorente through on goal to make it 0-1. From about the half-way point of the first half Liverpool did improve and started putting much more pressure on the Oblak goal which eventually led to the equaliser which was slightly fortunate with the ball falling to Araujo who produced a quite brilliant flick to Szoboszlai who had a pretty easy finish to make it 1-1, I think a draw was the fair result heading into half-time but Liverpool came out possessed for the second half with Barcola missing a sitter right before Mac Allister scored the winner. Unfortunately Barcola had to come off early in the 60th minute but I think it was just cramp so he should be okay for the weekend but I would imagine he’ll be on the bench for that one, I thought Alexander Isak looked really sharp again tonight but just didn’t get that real chance in front of goal that he would have wanted but I’d imagine that will come against Fulham on the weekend at Anfield. My one real disappointment with Liverpool yet again was Floarian Wirtz who just isn’t cutting it at the moment, I don’t know how long Iraola will leave it before he’s dropped but he’s simply not doing enough at the minute to warrant a start in this team. Overall I think Iraola will be pleased with what he saw tonight from his team to get three points in the first Champions League game of the season, onto Fulham at the weekend.
Positives and negatives to take for Diego Simeone at Anfield. I thought Atletico Madrid were the better side in the first half and were unlucky not to go 0-2 up with Alisson pulling off a miraculous save to keep out Alvarez from outside the box, the opening goal was brilliantly worked from Atleti’s point-of-view pulling Liverpool apart before playing Llorente in who took his goal well but they just didn’t follow up on it enough in my opinion. Gone are the days when Atletico Madrid would take the lead and you’d think there’s very little chance of getting back into this one as Liverpool looked dangerous throughout the last 15 minutes or so in the first half, the equaliser comes from a weak tackle from Cristian Romero that falls to Araujo who then flicks it through to Szoboszlai and from there Atleti were quite clearly the inferior side for the rest of the game. They didn’t know what hit them in the second half as Liverpool came out flying but they just had to see that first ten minutes or so out which they were halfway to doing before Baena’s shocking clearance fell to Mac Allister who took his goal brilliantly, Simeone did make changes to try and get back in game bringing on Lookman, Jonathan David, Grimaldo etc but they had very little impact on the game. The standout player on the night for Atletico Madrid was Pablo Barrios who I thought was immaculate in midfield basically playing by himself with a 34 year old Koke beside him, the Spaniard missed a large chunk of last season through injury so Simeone will be hoping he can stay fit and run the midfield for him this year. Overall it’s a disappointing start to the Champions League for Atletico Madrid but I still have no doubt in them qualifying for the next round given it normally takes around 10 points to make the top 24.
Bradley Barcola is going to be a smash-hit at Liverpool. I don’t care if it looks like I’m going early but I think we already saw tonight exactly what the Frenchman is going to bring to Iraola’s side in the attack, he was played on the right-wing this evening to allow Rio Ngumoha to play on the left and even then he had two great chances to open his account for Liverpool. Although he didn’t score you can quite clearly see that he is a chance magnet which was quite evident at PSG and even if that end product doesn’t come he’s still going to score a ridiculous amount of goals in this team, his athleticism along with sheer pace will get him so many chances a game which is guaranteed to lead to goals whether he scores every chance or not. With creators like Wirtz, Gakpo, Szoboszlai etc all around him I just don’t see a way this signing fails for Liverpool, as long as he stays fit I can see Barcola being Liverpool’s best signing from the past couple of seasons. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get on the scoresheet against Fulham on the weekend if he plays, that Liverpool attack is looking pretty frightening.
What’s up next for these two teams? For Liverpool like I said above they take on Fulham at Anfield who are currently winless under Alvaro Arbeloa so that should be a pretty comfortable game for Iraola I would imagine, after that they take on Spurs in the Carabao cup next Tuesday which should be a good game. In the Champions League their next fixture is against away to LASK when we come back from the international break in October so you’d expect Liverpool to have two wins from two games in the Champions League which would be a great start. For Atletico Madrid they are back in action in LA Liga away at Real Sociedad on Sunday which is a rematch of the Copa Del Rey final which Sociedad managed to win on penalties last season, they are also in action midweek back at the Metropolitano against Osasuna so there’s no real time to dwell on this loss with games coming thick and fast. In the Champions League their next game is a tasty one at home to Manchester United where Simeone will be keen to get his Champions League campaign under way against Carrick’s United, I’ll have their game against Sabah covered on here tomorrow hopefully.