Liverpool 2-3 Atletico Madrid: 5 reasons why the Reds lost the match | UEFA Champions League 2019-20
It's official, the defending champions have been knocked out of the Champions League, with Atletico Madrid defeating Liverpool 3-2 after extra-time at Anfield to progress 4-3 on aggregate.
The Spaniards came into the fixture with a narrow 1-0 advantage lead from the first leg and forced extra-time in the match having lost by the same scoreline at the end of 90 minutes but a brace by Marcos Llorente and a late strike from Alvaro Morata condemned Liverpool to their first European home defeat in six years.
Diego Simeone made three changes from the side that prosecuted the first leg, with Sime Vrsaljko, Thomas Lemar, and Alvaro Morata replaced by Kieran Tripper, Joao Felix, and Diego Costa respectively and it was the latter that had the first chance of the game after just 13 seconds when he was played through by Angel Correa but the Spaniard could only send his shot wide.
From then on it was one-way traffic, with Liverpool forcing the issue and they deservedly levelled the tie when Gini Wjnaldum headed past Jan Oblak after being left unmarked in the area two minutes before half-time.
The second half continued in much the same fashion but the hosts could not find a winner, with Robertson's header off the post the closest they came and Atletico thought they had won the tie with a 93rd minute goal but Saul Niguez was rightly flagged for offisde.
Roberto Firmino put Liverpool ahead with his first Anfield goal of the season after scoring from a rebound off the post but a quickfire brace from Marcos Llorente placed the visitors in the driving seat and Alvaro Morata put the icing on the cake with virtually the last kick of the game.
The result means that Liverpool would fail to defend their title and have just the Premier League to play for, while Atletico Madrid would match on to the quarterfinal.
Given their indifferent away form this season, not many gave Atletico a chance to progress but they delivered the goods and came up tops against one of the best sides on the continent and here, we shall be highlighting five reasons why Liverpool lost the clash to Atletico Madrid.
#5 Adrian's gaffe
Liverpool were rocked by the news that first-choice goalkeeper Alisson was ruled out of this tie with a calf injury and in his place, summer signing Adrian mounted the sticks against Los Colchoneros.
However, the 34-year-old is a far less assured presence between the sticks than his Brazilian counterpart and has shown signs of nervousness in games where he has played, particularly over the weekend against Bournemouth.
The former West Ham man was relatively untested for much of the game due to Liverpool's overt dominance but he did well to keep out an effort from Angel Correa in the second half.
With just seven minutes gone in extra-time, Adrian received a totally harmless backpass from Trent-Alexader Arnold but in shocking fashion, he kicked the ball straight to Joao Felix who laid it on for Marcos Llorente to give Atletico a precious away goal.
This was reminiscent of scenes from the not-too-distant past for Liverpool fans which Alisson's arrival has helped erase and with a scarcely deserved away goal, the visitors upped the ante and went on to get the victory after yet another piece of questionable goalkeeping from Adrian.
Without Adrian's error, Liverpool would have held a comfortable 2-0 advantage and with Atletico forced to come out in search of an away goal, this would have left spaces behind to further exploit but a moment of madness from their backup goalkeeper put paid to all their efforts on the night.