Team News
After the fabulous win against [team 71], Klopp made four changes, with [player 1453] stepping in for [player 1743]. Club captain Henderson and Keita also came into the midfield, and there was a surprise start for Origi.
Milan had three changes to the side that won against [team 43]. Kjaer, [player 100190], and [player 538861] started. The outgoings were [player 129202], [player 2823228] and Florenzi. [player 1830] was out due to an injury. [player 798] started on the bench, with Rebic leading the line for the Italian side.
First-Half
As we are all aware of the stunning Anfield atmosphere on European nights, this was a great one too. With the two European giants meeting for the first time outside of a major final, the full capacity Anfield was thriving.
[team 8]started the game with high intensity as they usually do, and Milan struggled to cope with closing down from Klopp’s side. The first five minutes were relentless from Liverpool as Origi and Jota had good chances to take the lead. A few minutes later, [player 1920]’s header from a Trent corner was saved by [player 96227].
The relentless Liverpool pressure while attacking the Kop end finally paid off when Salah and [player 1917] combined beautifully on the right side as Salah played a lovely through ball into Trent’s path, who charged into the box before taking a shot that was deflected off Tomori into the net. The goal was coming from a long time as [team 113] were unable to deal with Liverpool’s pressing.
Liverpool did not slow down; the continuous pressing gave Milan all sorts of problems to progress the ball forward. The home side were easily winning the midfield battle as Milan had no answers to Liverpool’s pressing. Salah had a shot blocked by [player 4655] before he had a great opportunity to put Liverpool two up as the reds were awarded a penalty. The Egyptian took a poor shot which the Milan keeper saved.
Liverpool’s relentless pressure continued as they kept creating good chances but failed to convert them. The game, however, turned on its head inside two minutes just before halftime. After successfully surviving Liverpool’s pressure for the whole half, Milan scored two goals in two minutes and took the lead.
The first one was a great passing move finished brilliantly by [player 32636]. The second goal was a simple tap in for [player 340342] after [player 186995]’s shot was blocked on the line by [player 1078] but, the rebound was inevitable to go in.
After total domination of the first half, Liverpool found themselves a goal down after two extraordinary minutes at Anfield.
Second-Half
Liverpool did start the second half on the front foot but were more careful after what happened at the end of the first half as the reds were saved by the offside flag was [player 30972]’s goal was immediately cancelled by the assistant.
Liverpool were returning into their rhythm and took just four minutes to level the game. The Egyptian finished [player 1472]’s clever chipped pass for [player 4125] as Liverpool were back in the game.
Liverpool were again becoming quite unstoppable for the away side. The amazing Anfield atmosphere was being the 12th man for the home side. Robertson had a drive that was saved by Maignan. [coach 455353] had to do something to add more clinical ability to Liverpool’s attack. [player 1389] replaced Origi with the intent to get the next goal.
[player 159917] had another great chance to put Liverpool ahead, but a strong defensive display kept Milan in the game but, the barrier was soon broken as [player 323] executed an excellent volley to get his side the lead. This goal witnessed an Anfield eruption, with the fans going crazy in what was an engaging game throughout.
Towards the end, Milan did push for a point, but the reds successfully saw the game out.
Fixture Details: [fixture 18395542]
Author: Devashish Akolekar
