Maybe I won't be exaggerating if I say that Belgrade fell the wall of Jericho in their yesterday night Champions League clash that saw them beat the dreaded Liverpool 2-0. The dragons had come all the way from Anfield to consume the sheep with their flames, but just like they always say, "nothing is certain in the game of soccer" and yesterday night was one of those nights that makes me ruminate on that saying.
No one saw it coming, come on, you wouldn't expect a Liverpool not to win that match, talk less of not scoring. What happened, What went wrong, was it fatigue or was it overconfidence? Whatever it was, it succeeded in leading Klopp's boys into champions league Jeopardy.
In the build up to that game, I was one of those who never gave Belgrade a chance, in fact I wouldn't have watched the game even if I was a Liverpool fan. You know why? I was of the notion that it was a walkover match for the visitors, so why would I waste my time on such a game. For me, it was already 3 points for Liverpool. But it seems I will never stop being surprised by the game of soccer. It was really another bad night for the betting faithfuls, like how on earth will you survive that! Liverpool neither won, neither did they draw or even get a goal.
Even in telegram groups, I was really confident in making my expectation ahead of the games obvious. And funny enough almost those who chosed to interact in relation to that match shared same notion. If the betting platform had been launched before yesterday night, maybe lots of us would have lost more scorum coins that we've gathered for the past few months. It's really gonna be interesting when the betting feature is launched, as nights like this will turn some whales into minnows and vise versa. Anywhere Liverpool players are currently, I believe they sure know what is up against them if they must progress to the next stage of the competition.
If there will be a night this current Liverpool players would wanna forget, it's certainly gonna be that of yesterday. Their performance was really abysmal, and am still contemplating how they intend to placate their fans that traveled all the way to support them. They went really close last season, even though they got humbled by Real Madrid in the finals, but the team's status never remained the same. And yesterday's champions league result was not befitting to their current status in European football.
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What Really Transpired, Who Should Be Blame?
Jurgen Klopp and his gladiators may have hoped to seize the city of Belgrade, but their ignominious display saw them put their round 16 possibility in jeopardy. If they was any moment that Liverpool's performance was below their standard this season, the match between them and Belgrade will certainly pass for it. Their ploy to take control of Group C was dashed on the rock yesterday night. They met a different Belgrade team that came to An field. But how could they be so good against Liverpool overnight, Isn't it a puzzle? Maybe the Rajko Mitic stadium suddenly became hostile to the visitors, hahaha... I don't wanna go superstitious now.
The unforeseen 2-0 defeat to Belgrade leaves last year's UEFA champions league at the bring of missing out of the knockout stages, please help pray for them. But who can they really blame apart from themselves. If we term their last champions league away loss to Napoli as bad, then the one at Belgrade is worst. This defeat will sure take Liverpool down memory lane. Could it have been complacency, could it have been overconfidence, or maybe it's fatigue? Am just looking for something to blame, at least it will reduce the gravity of blame I will be apportioning to them. Not like it's gonna serve any purpose though.
Sometimes, things happen so fast in football that one can only imagine if it's really real. About two weeks ago or thereabout, this was the same Liverpool that humiliated Belgrade in a 4-0 win at Anfield. The Red Stars were of course the underdog, and funny enough, it seemed they went into the game expecting to be beating. Looking all innocent in the pitch and were of no threat nor danger to Liverpool. But here in Serbia, it was a diffent ball game. The Serbian champions could not afford to watch Liverpool desecrate their home ground, they planned it well and the ploy paid off. Not here! they must have said to themselves.
It took the host first half to kill off the game, as they put two goals past Liverpool's goalkeeper within the space of seven minutes, all thanks to Milan Pavkov. The first blow came from a well taken header from a corner kick, but the host had to execute their plans fast, so Pavkov drove a 25 yards jaw breaking shot into the net, and not even Alisson Becker will wanna see that again. Though Liverpool struck the woodwork twice in the second half. However, how Mane and sturridge were not able to get a goal pass Borjan is still a mystery to me. In fact, let's just say it wasn't their night.
Though my instinct whispered that this was gonna be a different Red Star team in spirit, but I wasn't thinking they will be too different to be a match for Liverpool. Their fans having been previously banned in their last two games, they came in their numbers to cheer the home team this time around. Statistically, I will later find out that Red star haven't lost a game at home in their last 28 home games, I doubt if Liverpool attached any relevance to that. It's been awhile Liverpool conceded twice in the first half of a champions league game, the last time such happened was in 2014 when Brendan Rodgers was still the coach, and it was still Real Madrid that battered them.
Whatever the case may be, I really do fear for Liverpool, not like am their fan, but I will love to see Mane play longer in the Champions League. What do you think could have been the problem?
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