After falling behind by one goal, Liverpool did not seem to panic. In terms of competition experience and the number of appearances the team had in the Champions League, they were far better than Roma, a team that had missed the Champions League for the past four seasons.
But Chen Xiaoliang's performance on the field tonight can only be described as like a fish in water, and the reason is very simple, no one in Liverpool's midfield can limit him.
Experience is experience, but for competitive sports, no matter how rich the experience is, it still needs a living body to carry it and give full play to it.
The average age of Liverpool's starting lineup is 27.6 years old, while the average age of the opposing Roma eleven is only 24.9 years old, almost 3 years younger.
It's true that I'm not as experienced as you, but I have something more important that you don't have.
vitality.
Faced with the jumping up and down Chen Xiaoliang and Enzo, and having just conceded a goal due to being out of position, Fabinho lagged behind and dared not run around.
Elliott's task is more on offense, and his defensive ability is limited and his physical fitness is average. Even if he approaches the two midfielders of Roma, he cannot play much of a defensive role.
Instead, the 37-year-old Milner became the most desperate midfielder, trying hard to limit Chen Xiaoliang's passing route by running.
But he is of this age after all. Facing Chen Xiaoliang, who is already famous for his physical fitness, he often seems to be unable to do what he wants. But even so, the old captain is still trying his best to support the midfield offense and defense of the English giants.
I wonder what Henderson, Naby Keita and others who were unable to travel with the team due to injuries were thinking as they sat in their homes on Merseyside watching the game.
Liverpool's ball possession rate continued to rise. By the 10th minute, the figure had reached 65%, but what about the number of shots?
Awkward 0.
In the 9th minute, Milner received a pass from Robertson on the left side of the midfield, and Nunez retreated to receive the ball, trying to make a common wall pass with Milner to mobilize the defensive position of the Roma players.
It was not known whether Milner's pass was too heavy or Nunez's stop force was too great, but a simple pass was stopped by him 1 meter away.
Nunez was also stunned, and hurriedly tried to step forward to regain control of the ball, but how could Guevadiol, who had been following him, give him the chance to regain control of the ball? He flashed out from behind before his foot touched the ball, fell to the ground, and poked the ball forward with his left foot.
Chen Xiaoliang, who had retreated to assist in defense, was very satisfied with Gvardiol's bold and decisive defensive action. He caught the ball disrupted by his new teammate, turned around and took a few steps to the empty area in the left front midfield, preparing to advance and counterattack, when Milner rushed over from his right side and made a flying tackle. His feet did not touch the ball at all, but his body knocked down Chen Xiaoliang's standing leg and knocked him to the ground.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!"
Mourinho jumped up from his seat as if he had been electrocuted and rushed to the sidelines!
We can tolerate missing a penalty kick and conceding a goal, but we absolutely cannot tolerate treating our captain, core player, and beloved team member in this way!
The referee Grande and the fourth official on the sidelines both gave Mourinho a gesture to step back and be quiet, but that was all they could do. They had no way to stop the dissatisfied shouts of more than 50,000 Roma fans in the stadium.
Grande blew the whistle, calling back Milner who was about to run away pretending nothing was wrong, warned him, and then showed him a yellow card.
Milner shook his head, seemingly dissatisfied with the referee's decision, but actually helpless about his slow start.
If I were 10 years younger, I wouldn't...
Forget it, Milner thought of this and stopped thinking about it.
In the stands, Gerrard had the same idea. If he were 10 years younger, he would be able to face Chen Xiaoliang head-on on the field.
The traces of time roll mercilessly over everyone, and it is fair to everyone.
Chen Xiaoliang was pulled up by Enzo and Matic, and gave a thumbs up to the coaching bench to show that he was fine.
His Constitution is 15, and his Injury is only 2. With the two attributes combined, it would be difficult to injure him even with a slightly larger movement.
Roma took a free kick, but still didn't stick to the ball. Enzo pushed it to Celik, Celik pushed it to Dybala, and Dybala tried to pass it behind him before Robertson came over to harass him.
Van Dijk, who is currently worth 50 million euros, was once a candidate for the "World's No. 1 Defender". Faced with such an obvious pass and having just suffered an offside error from Cesco, he took a direct start and kicked the ball out of the sideline in advance.
The head coaches on both sides were applauding.
Klopp naturally cheered and encouraged his players, hoping that successful defense again and again would boost their morale.
Mourinho expressed his approval of the players' strict adherence to tactical arrangements and playing simple and fast football.
He firmly believes that Liverpool can defend such penetrating passes and offsides once or twice, but certainly not 10 or 20 times.
If he had been luckier, Cesco's shot would have hit the post and the score would have been 2-0.
Liverpool slowly advanced to the frontcourt, with Salah, Firmino and Elliott constantly making small passes in front of the penalty area, trying to use back and forth pulling defense to create space for their teammates to move forward.
However, facing Roma, which only left Dybala and Cesco roaming in the front and the other 8 players all returned to defense, the departure of the agile Mane in the summer still greatly reduced the creativity of this offensive line.
The ball was passed back and forth, but no one could run out of a lethal route, and no one could immediately send a straight pass that was not offside.
Mourinho is sitting firmly on the throne, this scene is really comfortable.
For a team that defends and counterattacks, the most feared thing is that the opponent does not press forward. Not pressing forward means that there is no large space behind the opponent, which means that even if the ball is exchanged, it may not be possible to immediately break through the opponent's defense.
In a game like this where they are leading from the start, Liverpool will certainly not be willing to accept an away defeat, so Mourinho, who is arranging the defense in the midfield and backcourt, only needs to wait for the opponent to attack again and again, and then watch his disciples successfully defend again and again and quickly get back to the opponent's half.
He even prevented Cesco and Dybala from putting pressure on the opponent's defenders, allowing Van Dijk, Robertson and others to advance and pass the ball steadily.
Kva was also arranged to retreat to participate in the defense on the left side. One reason was that there was Salah on the left side, and Malaysia's defense alone was far from enough, so Enzo and Kva had to join in.
On the other hand, Kva's active retreat allows Arnold to move forward more unscrupulously and participate in Liverpool's attack on the right side, so that Kva will have more space behind him to use when counterattacking.
In the 14th minute, Milner was helpless in the face of Matic's defense on the left, so he chose to make a long cross pass to the right to Salah, but the ball was passed with a little too much force, and Salah ran to the sideline but still failed to head the ball back into bounds.
Malaysia immediately asked the caddie for the ball and threw it to Kwa who was closest to him.
After receiving the ball, Arnold happened to pass by him while returning to defense and immediately stretched out his foot to interfere. Kva did not stick to the ball and chose to pass it back to Enzo safely. Enzo kicked the ball to Chen Xiaoliang in the middle.
Chen Xiaoliang, who was moving towards the left side of the court to receive the ball, looked up before the ball rolled in front of him, then pushed the rolling ball forward with the outside of his right foot, and the ball immediately flew straight to the front court!
The ball passed over Fabinho's head and then over Gomez's head. Before either of them could react to what happened, they only heard an exclamation from all the Roma fans in the stadium. When they turned around, they saw Cesco fighting with Van Dijk, squeezing and confronting each other as they ran forward.
In the second year, Chen Xiaoliang and Cesco hardly ever missed a day of seeing each other.
They run together in the morning, have lunch together, practice together, watch games together, and play football games together. Fortunately, both of them are male and like girls, and there is Helena at home to "watch over" them all the time. Otherwise, it would not be .
It's a pity that the system's tacit understanding value is only level 4, but this is enough to make Chen Xiaoliang, who has a pass rate of 18, pass the ball to Cesco almost every time to the millimeter accurate.
In this ball, Cesco was on the left outside line, and Van Dijk, who had discovered Cesco's offside trap in advance, was on the right inside line, while Chen Xiaoliang's pass fell in front of Cesco's left in the penalty area.
Cesco was able to receive the ball easily, and Van Dijk had to fall to the ground and kick to make a tackle if he wanted to disrupt it.
Klopp was also surprised to see that Van Dijk still failed to push Cesco away after the two men ran side by side for 7 or 8 meters.
The two core assistant coaches behind him, Linders and Kravitz, also looked unhappy.
A 31-year-old UEFA best player, best team defender, and Premier League player of the season is actually on par with a 19-year-old young center in physical confrontation. Is this a distortion of training or a failure in transfer?
But no matter how surprised he was, Cesco knew very well at this moment that with Van Dijk's close defense, most of his strength was used to maintain his body balance. Even if the ball passed to him by Chen Xiaoliang was perfect, he would not have the spare space and strength to complete an accurate shot after receiving the ball. The most he could do was kick the ball randomly.
This kind of oppressive feeling coming from the former No. 1 defender in the world was something he had never experienced before!
Cesco stretched out his right leg, touched the ball with his right foot, and tried to force the ball inside. He didn't feel any pressure. He was not the best striker in the world, he was not even the number one striker in Serie A. It was not shameful to lose to Van Dijk in a one-on-one confrontation, so he could do whatever he wanted without any burden.
However, just as he pushed the ball to the ground with his right foot and lifted his left foot, he and Van Dijk twisted their limbs at the same time and fell to the ground together!
Alisson, who was guarding the near corner, received the ball. Seeing that the referee Grande did not make any comment, he immediately threw the ball to Gomez outside the penalty area.
Van Dijk stood up and returned to the attack, but Cesco was still lying on the ground, covering his left foot.
Due to the long distance and Chen Xiaoliang's sudden through ball, Shui couldn't see clearly what happened between Cesco and Van Dijk.
Kva and Dybala raised their hands and signaled to the referee to stop the game. Chen Xiaoliang quickly retreated to defend, but he knew in his heart that Cesco, a young man, would not deliberately fall to the ground like this. Something must have happened. Either Van Dijk committed a foul, or he was really injured.
Fabinho received the pass from Gomez and made a long pass to Salah, but fortunately Patricio made a move in advance and caught the ball at the edge of the penalty area.
At this time, Cesco was still lying in the penalty area.
“Beep!”
Grande whistled and ran back toward Cesco.
Alisson walked up to Cesco and said something. It was unclear whether he was asking about his situation or telling him to stop pretending and get up quickly.
Mourinho and Klopp on the sidelines were also confused. It was far away to begin with, and the Roma Olympic Stadium is a comprehensive stadium with a standard 400-meter running track around the stadium. The fans in the stands closest to the sidelines didn't see how the two people fell to the ground in such a short moment, and one got up as if nothing had happened, but the other refused to get up.
Not to mention the fans in the upper stands.
While everyone was looking at each other and asking each other "What happened?", Grande had already come to Cesco and looked down at him.
The next second, the Spanish referee made a move that no one expected. He turned and walked to the sidelines, and at the same time made a square gesture with both hands!
Lou Yichen: "Let's see! After an attack, the referee made a gesture to watch VAR!"
Liu Yue: "It seems that the video referee team reminded the referee what really happened in the confrontation between Van Dijk and Cesco after watching the replay just now."
Lou Yichen: "Generally speaking, the referee would not make such a decision. The game is only 15 minutes and 50 seconds in. Will he give another penalty?"
Liu Yue: "Grande can only make his own judgment on this ball."
Lou Yichen: "The referee walked to the sidelines, Klopp came over and asked, but Grande didn't say anything. If two penalties were awarded in a row, the pressure on Klopp in this game would be huge."
The fans at the scene were anxious, whether they were fans of Roma or Liverpool, they were all waiting for the referee's final decision.
The fans in front of the screen have already seen the images synchronized with VAR.
Lou Yichen: "Yes, I stepped on your foot! Yes, I stepped on your foot!"
Liu Yue: "If you look at it from this lens, it must be a call. Cesco touched the ball first, and then Van Dijk stepped on the instep of his right foot."
Lou Yichen: "This is what we mentioned before. Cesco is tall and has long legs. His long legs are really fast. Gomez often loses his defensive target because of his circling behind him, and then he can only rely on Van Dijk to make up for it. Once Cesco rushes, Van Dijk can only use his body to squeeze and bump into the opponent's movements."
At this time, the referee Grande turned around and muttered to the microphone as he walked, apparently telling the entire referee team his decision.
Mourinho and Klopp both stood on both sides of the inner side of the coaching command area, watching Grande's every move.
“Beep!”
Grande blew the whistle and then made the VAR gesture with both hands again.
“Beep!”
The second whistle blew and he pointed to Liverpool's penalty area!
"yeah!!!"
All the Roma fans in the stadium raised their hands and cheered instantly!
Lou Yichen: "It never rains but it pours! Liverpool were awarded two penalties just 17 minutes into the game!"
"And when Grande returned to the field, he showed Van Dijk a yellow card!"
Liu Yue: "The last defender committed a minor foul and was given a yellow card."
Cesco was already standing up by now.
Klopp hated it very much, but there was nothing he could do.
Is this a 19-year-old player? Who taught him to insist on falling to the ground to emphasize to the referee team that a foul had occurred in the penalty area?
Most players would have stood up and chased the referee, yelling and complaining, but that would only increase the referee's resistance and reduce the possibility of a penalty.
As long as there is someone lying on the field, the referee must stop the game. Did Mourinho take special refereeing classes in Rome?
Klopp felt mixed emotions.
But he guessed right. Mourinho really often tells players some unpopular football rules that can be effectively used at times.
In addition to Cesco's fall to the ground, which forced the referee to stop the game and gave the video referee team time to review the replay, former Chelsea captain Terry also said in an interview that Mourinho once asked him and Cahill to fall to the ground at the same time at the end of the game to delay time.
Because according to the rules, when a player is injured and falls to the ground, the team doctor can enter the field for simple treatment, but the referee will not allow the game to be interrupted for too long. The player will be allowed to go off the field for treatment or wait, and then return to the field when the game reaches a dead ball state again.
But according to the rules, if two central defenders fall to the ground due to injury at the same time, the referee cannot allow both of them to leave the field at the same time to continue the game, because this would cause great unfairness to one side.
Once, Terry saw Cahill fall in the penalty area after colliding with his opponent, and he also fell down immediately. The referee came over and asked him to leave the court for treatment . Terry told the referee, "You can't do this, the rules do not allow it. If you don't believe me, go ask the assistant referee." As a result, the referee really went to ask, and came back a moment later to tell Terry, "You are right."
Just like the goal just now, if the game continues to go on, the video referee team will not have enough time to carefully review what happened at that time. Once the incident time is far away from the game time, if new fouls or even goals occur during this period, it will be very inappropriate and will cause great controversy to use VAR to trace back what happened before the penalty.
Therefore, the best way to give everyone a breathing space is to lie down firmly and force the referee to stop the game.
At this time Chen Xiaoliang and Dybala came up again, and they signaled Cesco to continue to take the penalty kick. However, Cesco felt that the kick from Van Dijk just now was quite heavy, and he had already been given a penalty kick by the captain today, so he could not take this ball again.
Chen Xiaoliang looked at Dybala and said, "Then you come."
Of course Dybala accepted such good news with a smile.
Seeing Dybala pick up the ball and put it on the penalty spot, Gvardiol in the backcourt was dumbfounded again.
What's wrong with this captain? Why does it feel like asking him to take a penalty kick is like asking him to step on a landmine? He is afraid to avoid it and gives it to others.
I remember that there is a goal bonus in the contract of this club. Scoring a goal is a lot. Is there a "penalty kick bonus" in the captain's contract?
The players from both teams stood still and the referee Grande blew the whistle again!
“Snap! Snap!”
Before Dybala could take a run-up, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson bent down and clapped his hands vigorously, trying to disrupt Dybala's emotions and thoughts.
Unlike Cesco who uses his right foot, Dybala who uses his left foot takes the penalty by running up from the right behind the ball.
Lou Yichen: "Dybala...run-up...shoot!"
“Hey!!!”
"Take another shot! It's too high!"
"Alisson turned the tide! He saved Dybala's penalty shot to the left side of the goal! Then Kvaratskhelia came up and volleyed the ball, but it was too high!"
Liu Yue: "It was a half-high ball. Dybala should have wanted to hit the top corner but missed the target. According to his level, he shouldn't have kicked a half-high ball which is the area that goalkeepers love to save the most during penalty kicks. This is the area that is easiest to reach and cover when diving sideways."
Lou Yichen: "I wonder if Alisson's penalty save will be the turning point of the game!"
Kva's follow-up shot flew directly out of the baseline. Dybala sighed to the sky, not because of his own data, but because he wasted the team's opportunity to expand the lead.
In one game, there were two penalties within 17 minutes of the start, and this was in the Champions League against a top club like Liverpool. Where can you find a second time for such a golden start?
As Dybala walked back, he touched his head and showed a look of regret and embarrassment.
Inspired by this goal, Liverpool was like a shot of adrenaline, and in the following 10 minutes they launched some of the most threatening attacks since the start of the game.
In the 22nd minute, Enzo tripped Salah who was retreating to receive the ball while defending on the left side. Grande awarded a free kick and Arnold took a direct shot from a long distance, but the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.
In the 25th minute, Arnold, Elliott and Fabinho made a series of wall-to-wall passes. When they came to the right side of the penalty area, Arnold pretended to go down to receive the ball and pass it. However, Elliott took advantage of the defense's attention being diverted and suddenly sent a straight pass to Salah with a small forward movement.
Salah received the ball with his back in the penalty area, and Gvadiol immediately came over. The Egyptian Pharaoh first shook his body to the left and made a fake move of turning around, trying to deceive Gvadiol's center of gravity, then suddenly turned left and kicked the ball towards the goal with his main left foot!
Gvardiol didn't dare to stretch his legs blindly to block in this position, because the speed was too fast and the time was too short. If he made a good move, the ball would be blocked outside the penalty area, and if he made a bad move, the ball would fly into his own goal and become an own goal.
However, he was confident that his body had blocked Salah's most threatening shooting space, and the only place he could shoot with this turn and volley was the far corner of the goal!
Although the 34-year-old Patricio is inevitably going downhill from his personal peak years, for a goalkeeper, this age is still the tail end of the golden age when experience and physical fitness can be combined.
Goalkeepers who maintain their physical condition well, such as Van der Sar, Neuer, Kahn, etc., can still perform well when they are around 36 or 37 years old in top clubs.
Not to mention Buffon, who left a wealthy club after he was 40 and is now 44 years old and still playing in Serie B for Parma.
Guevadiol's position had allowed Patricio to make a judgment long ago. Although the possibility of Salah turning around and shooting the ball into the near corner could not be completely ruled out, the goalkeeper could not stop and think over and over again before making a decision in this situation. He could only make a subconscious first judgment based on the muscle memory and conditioned reflex formed by countless training and games.
As expected, the ball flew from the left side of the penalty area to the upper right side of the goal, and because it was a turn shot, the force was not enough and the speed was not fast. Patricio did not dive sideways too hard and held the ball steadily with both hands.
This was also Liverpool's first shot on target in the game, which alerted the Roma players.
However, Liverpool's attack, which seemed to be gaining momentum, suddenly fizzled out.
The reason is very simple. Playing on the right side twice in a row and attacking the line of Arnold, Elliott and Salah made Chen Xiaoliang, who was responsible for intercepting in the middle of the midfield, consciously move to his own left side and join in the defense of this offensive line.
On the other side, after nearly 30 minutes, Milner, who was trying hard to cover the midfield and run continuously, had already felt a little tired. In addition, Firmino frequently moved inward to the middle to respond to Salah's attack on the right, resulting in not much defensive pressure on this side.
Klopp also discovered it, but he didn't have any good solution. He couldn't ask Mane to come back from Bayern. Moreover, he personally agreed and decided not to break the team's salary structure and not to renew Mane's contract with a higher salary.
There is no way. Liverpool's actual total salary expenditure is already second in the Premier League. Unlike Manchester United's high basic salary, Liverpool's salary structure is low salary and high bonus. With good results in recent years, their bonus expenditure is very shocking.
But as they get older, players like 30-year-old Mane, who is facing the last big contract of his career, will definitely hope that the basic salary can be higher, so that they can have stable income and security when things happen, such as the team's performance declines or he is unable to play due to injuries.
Mane's current weekly salary is about 180,000 pounds, and the amount he asked for to renew his contract is 360,000 pounds. This figure Liverpool cannot afford, but Bayern can give it.
It would be fine if it was just Mane, but the contracts of Salah, Firmino, Henderson, Naby Keita, Thiago, Matip and others will expire in the summer of 2023 or 24.
Now that Mané has doubled his weekly salary, what will the others do? If everyone does this, Liverpool's total salary will explode.
Therefore, they would rather let Mane go for 40 million euros and buy another Nunez for a total transfer fee of 100 million euros, but they must try their best to maintain the salary structure.
Furthermore, in the whole year of 2021, the global jersey sales figures were about 1.2 million pieces for Messi, 1.05 million for Ronaldo, and 970,000 for Lewandowski. What may surprise many people is that Salah ranked fourth with about 816,000 pieces, surpassing Mbappe's 799,000 pieces in fifth place.
Neymar ranked only 10th with only 547,000 pieces.
Liverpool sold 2.45 million jerseys in 2021, of which Salah alone accounted for one-third. In terms of jersey sales within the team, Mane ranked only 8th...
Therefore, Mane's request for the same status as Salah in the club, in addition to salary, was rejected by the Liverpool board of directors.
There is no way. Professional football, after all, cannot survive without the market and capital. Salah has a huge influence in the Arab world, which is incomparable to the pure black African players represented by Mane.
Those who talk about political correctness, skin color equality, and racial equality will not actually pay for it.
Klopp and the board were originally confident that Mane's departure would not have much impact on the club's mature system and stable team of players.
But there is no regret now, and whenever asked by reporters, Klopp would say that Mane left Liverpool with love.
Assistant coach Linders behind him was looking at the statistics. Left-back Robertson has made a total of 18 passes so far, 16 of which were horizontal passes or back passes.
The full-backs couldn't launch an attack, the midfield couldn't hold up, and left winger Firmino couldn't get support from the midfield and backcourt, so he had to move inward to look for more opportunities.
Liverpool focused on attacking the right side, so Roma naturally focused on defending the left side.
Without strong support from the midfield and with dense defensive players on the flanks, the team could only rely on Arnold's strong attacks and Salah's dribbling to create opportunities.
Will this work?
Just look at Mourinho sitting on the bench with a calm demeanor and you will know that this style of play that sticks to one wing and has no players with superb individual abilities cannot be effective.
Salah is indeed very strong, but not strong enough to single-handedly beat Malaysia, Enzo, and Chen Xiaoliang who is assisting in defense behind him.
What's more, in order to defend against Salah today, Malaysia basically never left its own half, and all the attacks on the left were given to Kwa.
In the 28th minute, Salah got the ball from Arnold again. Facing the encirclement of Enzo and Malacia, he picked up the ball with his left foot and wanted to pass it to Arnold who was moving inward from the wing and heading towards the middle.
How could such a good opportunity be missed? Chen Xiaoliang quickly filled the position, jumped up and headed the ball back to Matic behind him.
[Superstar Mission: Block or steal the ball 5 times when Salah is passing the ball]
[Task progress: 1/5]
As soon as Matic got the ball, he saw a red figure in front of him on the right moving quickly forward and waving at him. Such a veteran, who had driven the bus with Mourinho for three clubs, would not be unaware of this rare counterattack opportunity.
He sent the ball directly with a long pass with his left foot!
It's Dybala!
Although he started a beat earlier, he and Robertson did not have an advantage in speed!
But Dybala had never thought of breaking through the last line of defense by himself. After receiving the ball, he took a few steps. When caught up by Robertson, he immediately stepped on the ball, pulled it, cut inside, and sent a straight pass forward with his left foot!
Cesco started to the right in front, and ran towards the right side of the penalty area with Van Dijk who was defending him in this half of the field!
After passing the ball, Dybala did not stop, but chased behind Cesco, ready to support at any time, while also attracting the defensive attention of Fabinho, Milner and others who were returning to defense.
After all, the most famous player in Rome now is Chen Xiaoliang, and after Chen Xiaoliang is Dybala, who had a contract renewal soap opera with Juventus in the summer and then joined Roma in a high-profile manner.
Van Dijk, who had a yellow card and had suffered a loss at the hands of Cesco, couldn't understand why Cesco didn't fight him directly this time, but ran to the outside to deliberately avoid him?
Generally speaking, when encountering a central defender like yourself who has already received a yellow card, the most common way for a forward to do so is to play close to the defender, forcing him to commit another foul, or to be afraid to take any action because of the yellow card. In either case, the opponent can be in an advantageous position.
But no matter how good Van Dijk is, when he is chasing back at high speed, he can only see the space in front of him and cannot see what is happening behind him.
Cesco rushed to the right side of the penalty area and took a few steps, then slowed down slightly at a 45° angle to the goal and immediately raised his leg!
Van Dijk stepped forward and stretched his legs to block the shooting path, and this was exactly what Cesco wanted!
He stepped on his right foot and made a reverse triangle pass!
At that moment, Van Dijk's heart sank! He could only pray that the right center back Gomez and the right back Arnold behind him could keep an eye on the Roma player who received the pass.
Arnold, who was preparing to cooperate with Salah outside the Roma penalty area, saw the Roma forward line running to their own half. He knew that even if he got in the car and stepped on the accelerator, he would not have time to run back to his right side, so he simply did not return to defense. At this moment, he slowly ran back to the center line.
Gomez once again demonstrated his "good" defensive awareness and "excellent" competitive form to Klopp and the Liverpool fans.
Just like in the previous two defenses, he just retreated quickly all the way, keeping his eyes on Cesco and Van Dijk who was defending Cesco, and thought that there were no Roma players around him.
Suddenly, Kva's figure came in from behind his left, received Cesco's inverted triangle at the penalty spot and shot into the goal!
Fortunately, Van Dijk didn't see it, Gomez didn't see it, and Arnold didn't want to see it, but Alisson in front saw everything.
He attacked immediately and pounced on Kva!
It was this save that prevented Kva from shooting immediately, and instead he took a step forward and adjusted himself!
Lou Yichen: “Shoot!”
"Ball...Van Dijk!!!"
"Van Dijk made amends for his mistake! He ran back from Cesco and blocked Kvaratskhelia's shot on the goal line!"
Liu Yue: "This ball shows Van Dijk's ability and experience. After seeing Cesco's fake shot and the real pass, he immediately turned around and ran to the goal line to fill the space behind Alisson."
Lou Yichen: "Roma, oh Roma, they wasted two great scoring opportunities!"
"Kvaratskhelia kicked the ball really well!"
Facing Kva, who had a painful expression, frowned and looked regretful, and Cesco, who was gasping for breath because he failed to score a goal, Chen Xiaoliang came up to comfort them.
He patted Cesco on the back: "Fuck, fake shot and real pass, you are imitating me again..."
Cesco: "What a pity it didn't go in, Liangzi..."
After saying that, Chen Xiaoliang pulled the two of them back, but turned around and gave them a look.
At this time, the time has reached 30 minutes.
The score is still 1-0.
Although Liverpool had most of the ball possession, anyone could see that Roma was in complete control of the game. If it weren't for some problems with the finishing touch, the game would have been 3-0.
But against a team like Liverpool, despite their recent poor form, it always feels unsettling to repeatedly waste chances.
In front of the goal, Alisson kicked the ball to right center back Gomez.
This decision will make him regret it completely.
The moment he passed the ball, Chen Xiaoliang and the other two who were running back immediately turned around and launched a high-pressure defense.
It's been 30 minutes, and Roma, who didn't even want to control the ball, suddenly did this. Gomez, who was still in shock after almost losing the ball, was stunned after receiving the ball!
In a panic, he saw a white teammate and passed the ball forward, but it was intercepted by Kwa!
Dybala, who had retreated halfway to the center line, saw this and quickly got back in!
Even the Liverpool players who were gasping for breath and moving forward to reorganize the attack also began to retreat urgently.
Kva moved to the left side of the penalty area. Chen Xiaoliang was outside the penalty area. Kva faced Arnold and Gomez behind Arnold and began to dribble with small steps to test the ball.
The passion in his heart told him that he wanted to prove himself by selling the right-back worth 70 million euros, but the rationality on the other side told him that he should not act alone so rashly in a small space with multiple defenders.
After taking a few tentative steps, he pushed the ball with the outside of his right foot to Chen Xiaoliang on the penalty area line.
Chen Xiaoliang received the ball, and then faced the goal with his body in an attacking posture.
Long shot?!
At Liverpool, Klopp's coaching team has as many as 20 people. It is no exaggeration to say that the level and meticulousness of this coaching team can crush any big club in Serie A. The Premier League team is far ahead of the other four leagues in terms of profitability, but it also invests the most in related behind-the-scenes resources.
Their pre-match analysis of Roma players was as meticulous and thorough as they had been doing in the past few seasons.
But all a coach can do is teach. The execution still depends on the players. The coach standing on the sidelines can only leave it to fate as to how the execution is done.
As soon as Chen Xiaoliang received the ball, Gomez and Arnold immediately blocked Chen Xiaoliang. His ability to shoot outside the penalty area is said to be inherited from Gerrard, who was taught to him by the soul of the Red Army in Glasgow.
Thinking of this, the two dared not to delay. However, Chen Xiaoliang passed the ball lightly, and the ball rolled past the junction of the two. Kva, who had just been confronting the two, had already run up to receive the ball from offside, forming a one-on-one situation with Alisson.
Alisson, who was standing in the middle of the goal preparing to deal with Chen Xiaoliang's long shot, now quickly ran to his right, and Van Dijk once again wanted to rush to the goal line to block the shot.
Having missed one scoring opportunity, Kwa would not waste the second one. He hit the bottom of the ball with his right foot and shot it directly into the upper corner from close range!
Alisson hasn't arrived yet, so it's useless even if he makes a save gesture.
Lou Yichen: “2 to 0!”
"Georgian winger Kvaratskhelia did not waste the opportunity and shot into the near corner to help Roma open the score!"
"So far, the game has only been going on for 31 minutes! And Liverpool has had 4 chances to concede the ball! If Alisson hadn't blocked the ball, it would have been a tragedy!"
Liu Yue: "It's hard to imagine that he has only been in the team for more than two months, but the support he got on the left side, whether it was Enzo or Chen Xiaoliang, the passes they made to him were very tacit, as if they had been working together for a long time."
"Coupled with his flexible positioning and excellent one-on-one dribbling ability, the left side, which Abraham, Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Zalewski, and even El Shaarawy and Spinazzola tried in turn last season but to no avail, has been completely revived."
"And the state of Arnold and Gomez today was also unacceptable. They were always looking at the ball instead of the players, or not looking at the players at all."
Lou Yichen: "A fan left a message in the live broadcast room, saying that he can be as strong as he wants, but I have Kvara!"
Liu Yue: "Hahahaha, the version I saw before was that he can be as strong as he wants, but I have Chen Xiaoliang."
Lou Yichen: "Anyway, judging from the current situation of this game, I believe that fans will have more confidence in Roma's performance in the Champions League this season. You know, they are facing Liverpool, the runner-up of the Champions League and Premier League last season!"
Liu Yue: "Mourinho didn't celebrate much on the sidelines, but Klopp's disappointment was obvious. It depends on whether he can make adjustments. Otherwise, with the current defensive situation, there are still more than 60 minutes left in the game, and Roma will definitely score more goals, and there will be more than just one."