I don’t really have any particularly strong opinions on this one. In the micro it’s not good. A home draw to follow up the defeat we had to Inter in the last round is something of a concern. Giving away three goals is bad and what makes it worse is it could easily have been more. Then you zoom out to look at the macro and it’s a much brighter picture.
We qualified for the semi finals with a bit to spare despite resting more or the less the entire starting line up. We didn’t win the game, but then we didn’t need to. We just needed to win the tie, which we did, comfortably. While it didn’t look good seeing Benfica repeatedly get in behind our high line, would that have happened if we’d have been at full throttle, let alone fielded our best team? Unlikely.
We’re at the business end of the season and every result counts. If we can catch a breather, rest players and not fully exert those who do play while still being able to achieve the result we need, then that’s cause for celebration, not concern. We did what we needed to do and we did it with the minimum of effort. I can’t criticise that, especially as it’s how I’ve lived my whole life.
I’m not completely dismissing the more worrying elements of the performance but I’m not wasting too much energy worrying about them either, especially as it wasn’t the line up that we’ll be counting on for the next couple of months. I thought overall we played pretty well and we controlled virtually all of the game. We created chances, scored goals, and played some lovely football.
We also looked wide open and could have conceded more than three. That points towards defensive frailty, but I don’t think it was the back four who were culpable for it really. We play a high line and the defence did what we always do, but when you do that with no real pressure on the ball you can come unstuck. And we did. Often.
That’s always going to happen if we aren’t playing at full throttle, and in a game like this we’d have been stupid to play at full throttle. So while there is a nagging concern that teams might finally be figuring out how to stay onside and get in behind us, it’s hard to judge that in a game like this.
I didn’t think there was anything too surprising about the line up. I expected Gomez, Konate and Kostas to start, but presumed it would be Van Dijk rather than Matip with them. Virgil has hardly had a rest all season though so it makes sense to let him have a breather ahead of the mad run of games we’ve got coming.
The midfield was a little surprising as I assumed Curtis might get a run out with Keita and either Hendo or Fabinho. Instead we had Milner given a rare start. Hendo got the nod over Fabinho but he was never going to be playing more than an hour, and so it proved.
Up front Bobby and Diaz were nailed on starters but I expected Mo to play just because he needs a goal spot badly. He was on the bench and Jota got the start.
We began the game brightly and looked dangerous, especially down the left where Kostas was enjoying a lot of the ball in advanced areas. We had a few chances that we didn’t convert until the big fella showed the rest how it’s done by planting a header into the bottom corner. He likes playing against these.
Some Benfica players were appealing to the ref about something and initially I wondered if Konate had maybe shoved his marker or climbed on him to prevent him jumping. The keeper was especially vociferous about it, but when you see the replay it’s completely baffling as to what they were on about. There’s no foul, and Konate doesn’t actually even win the ball at the peak of his jump. He’s on his way down when he heads it, but the Benfica defenders didn’t even bother to jump.
Great to see him among the goals recently though and it’s really impressive to see how prolific we are from corners. It’s a shame we barely managed any at City last week but maybe this weekend we can force a few more and convert one of them.
That put us up by three goals in the tie and we looked in the mood to add to it. Diaz was looking really lively again and stung the palms of the keeper after beating a defender with an outrageous dummy,
Then Benfica equalised out of nothing really when Milner made a tackle and inadvertently diverted the ball perfectly into the path of Ramos. There was a VAR check as initially he looked off, but he wasn’t and even if he had been it wouldn’t have mattered as the ball had come off Milner anyway. Really nice finish as well to be fair.
Firmino should have restored our three goal cushion when Milner sent him clear. The keeper was miles out of his goal and the ball sat up nicely. It was screaming out for the lob but he spurned that, probably because it was on his left foot, and chose to carry the ball goal wards instead.
That allowed the keeper to get back in but Bobby had no intention of going on his own anyway. He rarely does. He’ll always look to see if there’s a team-mate well placed and if there is he’ll look to find them. In this case it was Diaz, who would have had a tap in had Bobby put enough juice on the pass. It was a fraction away from being perfect.
He made amends after the break when he finished from close range in front of the Kop. Bit of a strange goal. The build up was nice, with Keita splitting the defence to release Diaz only for him to over run the ball. The keeper got there first but didn’t deal with it well and then a defender made a hash of his clearance. It fell to Jota on the left edge of the box but his shot wasn’t great and was heading well wide until Bobby arrived on the scene to finish.
There was a VAR check as its was a tight one, but he was just onside. Soon after he was celebrating a second goal as he side footed in a delicious Tsimikas free-kick. Two assists for the Greek scouser. He’s so fucking good that there’s barely any kind of drop off whenever Robbo is rested. We could definitely do worse than use him at right back when Trent isn’t playing.
Not that Gomez is doing a bad job. He was steady again and did as much as we could ask from him. He did play them onside for their second goal but he’s basically half a yard behind the rest of the backline. That’s going to happen a lot regardless of who is in the defence. It’s not like he’s three yards deeper than everyone else, so I wouldn’t hold that against him at all.
We had been 6-2 up on aggregate when Klopp made his changes. Fab for Hendo, Thiago for Milner, Salah for Jota and Sadio for Diaz. You’d think that would have made us stronger but somehow we ended up conceding two and it could have been more.
Their second goal had initially been ruled out after the linesman flagged, but VAR overturned that one. Soon after they scored again. Again, the linesman put his flag up and again it was overturned by VAR. That’s how tight these calls were. We’re talking inches really. Konate had played them on for the third, which was expertly finished by that Darwin Nunez lad.
Going from 3-1 to 3-3 was irritating but I didn’t feel like the result was in any kind of danger. It might have been had Alisson not made a great save immediately after it had gone 3-3. Nunez thought he’d scored with a superb volley from the edge of the box but Alisson got down to turn the shot around the post. That was a huge moment in the game because there were ten minutes left at that point and had we gone 4-3 down nerves would have definitely started jangling. Alisson has a habit of making pivotal saves in Europe though.
After that we were comfortable enough and had plenty of opportunities to kill the game. We couldn’t finish any of them off though. Mo looked sharp but didn’t get his goal and will go into Saturday in a long barren spell now. I was hoping he’d have ended it in this one but maybe the stage is set for him to light up Wembley.
Sadio did have the ball in the net but he was well offside. He seems to be offside a hell of a lot actually. It’s something he probably needs to be more aware of as I’m always seeing him just run miles offside when there’s no need.
Benfica had another goal disallowed late on when Nunez finished well again but was clearly offside. Good player him, despite the appalling haircut.
So all in all an underwhelming result omn the night but a more than satisfactory outcome from the tie itself. A comfortable quarter final win with most of the team able to put their feet up sets us up nicely for the weekend. It’s in stark contrast to City’s preparation. They had to run the gauntlet of the full Atletico Madrid experience and picked up a couple of injuries along the way.
If De Bruyne and Walker don’t make it for Saturday that definitely gives us the edge. It’s going to be tough regardless of who they select but De Bruyne is the biggest threat to us so if he is missing that’s a huge boost for us.
We look like we’ll have a full compliment to choose from and this is a massive game for us. Not just because there’s a place in the final at stake, but also because there’s every likelihood we’ll play City in the Champions League Final and this is a chance for us to make up for the last few meetings with them when we’ve not played anywhere near our best (probably because they haven’t allowed us to, in fairness).
The result is the most important thing of course, but I really need to see a performance too just to make me feel more comfortable about the idea of facing them in the final, because quite frankly I can’t think of anything worse right now. That would be the final from hell.
Star man is Kostas although I could just as easily have gone for Bobby, who I’d have started at Wembley anyway but now must surely have booked his spot in the line up. I think we need to go with the original front three this Saturday because an in form Bobby’s ability to keep the ball and link the play could be just what we need in that game. He’s on 98 goals for us now too. Wembley would be the perfect place for him to bring up the century.
Team: Alisson; Gomez, Matip, Konate, Tsimikas; Henderson (Fabinho), Keita, Milner (Thiago); Diaz (Mané), Firmino (Origi), Jota (Salah):
Recommended Comments