Jose Enrique blasts Liverpool trio after Real Madrid defeat
The first 20 minutes of Liverpool FC’s game against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg at Anfield certainly gave us a lot of promise. The other 70 minutes were an absolute horror show as the visitors shipped 5 past Alisson to land the Reds their heaviest defeat in European Competitions at Anfield.
Darwin Nunez scored a wonderful backheel goal and Mohamed Salah capitalised on Thibaut Courtois’ error in front of the goal to give the Reds a very early 2-0 advantage. However, Vincius Jr. quickly ate into the lead by taking a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
Flashes of Loris Karius also popped up as Alisson Becker tried to hoof one back-pass from Joe Gomez over Vini but couldn’t get his attempt beyond the 22-year-old’s shin, deflecting the ball into the goal. Former Liverpool defender Jose Enrique blasted a number of players for their performances in the game.
Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold found themselves in the firing line from Enrique as he certainly felt that the trio could have done much better than what they did. Here is what he had to say via The Mirror:
“Salah as well, he looks off completely, [Virgil] van Dijk looks off completely, Trent [Alexander-Arnold] has been really bad this season as well. I’m not just pointing out these players because it’s been the whole team, but the truth is there are many world-class players in this team that have been performing that actually if he [Klopp] had options, he would bench them.”
Is the trio really blame-worthy?
Wonder where this opinion comes from as Trent and Salah actually looked like they tried to get the team going. Moreover, with Joe Gomez putting in the performance he did, shifting the blame on Van Dijk seems just a tad bit harsh. It was an extremely tough night for Gomez, who had to do with the combined forces of Benzema and Vini Jr.
One of Benzema’s goals also went in after Joe deflected it beyond the keeper. As per stats from FotMob, the 25-year-old was the Reds’ worst-rated outfield player against Los Blancos with a rating of 4.6.
The bottom line is, collectively the Reds were miles away from being a threat in the second half. Hence, pointing out a few names in such a situation is futile. The team should own up to their errors inclusively and hopefully, try to do a Remontada of sorts.
More Liverpool News:
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- Transfer News: Liverpool eye a move for RB Salzburg’s Luka Sucic
In conclusion, while the task ahead of Liverpool is daunting, the Reds have an outside chance to regroup and get the better of Real Madrid in the second leg of the UCL Round of 16 match. Even though it sounds ridiculous, Liverpool are not new to coming back from sizable deficits against Spanish clubs in the UCL. Trent knows.
