da 888casino： And so, on a Wednesday night in March, Liverpool’s Champions League defence is over.
da lvbet： The Reds were, for much of the match, the better team against Atletico Madrid at Anfield. They bossed possession – they had 71% of the ball – as you would expect against a Diego Simeone side, and they put real pressure on Los Rojiblancos’ goal, managing a colossal 31 shots (11 of them were on target).
However, despite the visiting side managing just ten themselves, they still progressed to the quarter-finals, even winning the match 3-2 on the night.
It was a fine example of defensive efficiency, but they would not have made it through had it not been for Jan Oblak between the sticks. The Slovenia international was in stunning form, making nine saves. That didn’t include the mesmerising stop from Virgil van Dijk, which came after the ball had gone out of play.
There is arguably no shot-stopper more consistently stupendous than the 27-year-old. In each of the last three full seasons, he has a save-percentage ratio of at least 80% in La Liga – even this term, his 73.3% is still more than respectable. Alisson may have managed 80.4% this term, but that is the only campaign he has amassed such a number.
Oblak is almost synonymous with the number 13 jersey at the Wanda Metropolitano, but it could have all been so much different. In October 2018, a report from AS (via Sport Witness) said that Liverpool had made an “important offer” for the goalkeeper that previous summer, but he turned it down. At the time, he had a €100m (£88.5m) release clause.
Alisson, of course, is a fantastic keeper in his own right, but Klopp’s failure to convince Oblak to make the move to Merseyside has come back to haunt him in spectacular fashion. A treble seemed a possibility just a few weeks ago – now, only the Premier League is left, and Atleti’s star man has had a big say in that.
Meanwhile, this famed youth academy could provide Liverpool with their Sadio Mane replacement.