Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League after a 3-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid at Anfield saw them eliminated 4-2 on aggregate after extra-time.
After Georginio Wijnaldum’s opener, Roberto Firmino’s extra-time goal appeared to have sent Jurgen Klopp’s side into the quarter-finals but Marcos Llorente had something else in mind.
The substitute capitalised on a poor kick by Adrian in the 97th minute to stun Anfield and then added a second soon after to leave Liverpool needing two goals. Instead, fellow substitute Alvaro Morata added a third Atletico goal to dump the defending European champions out of the competition.
It was an extraordinary result for Diego Simeone’s side who, for all their high-quality defending, were outplayed for much of the evening by the Premier League champions-elect.
Liverpool seemed to target the left hand side of Atletico Madrid to send in crosses and Georginio Wijnaldum, who was one of the architects of Liverpool’s memorable comeback against Barcelona last season powered in an header from an Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cross as Jan Oblak could only watch it sail into the net with 2 minutes to play in the first half.
The hosts started the second half much like they ended the first and midway through the half, thought they had the lead in the tie when Andrew Robertson got his head to Salah’s deflected shot but the ball came back off the bar.
Sadio Mane might have taken the roof off the Kop had his overhead kick found the net with five minutes remaining. Mohamed Salah also went close to doing the same but he too blasted over the bar.
This was a dominant display but the decisive blow briefly looked to have come from Atletico when Saul Niguez headed home in stoppage time from a left-wing free-kick. but he was well offside, as Anfield breathed a sigh of relief as both sides prepared for extra-time with the game tightly poised at 1-1 on aggregate.
Extra-time kicked off and again, the champions were on the front foot and also went n front for the first time in the two-legged tie as Roberto Firmino connected with a Wijnaldum header, which initially came back off the post but fell kindly back to him for an easy rebound into the net. This was also Firmino’s first Anfield goal since April 2019
With that goal, Liverpool looked set to book their place in next week’s quarter final draw but Adrian’s error dramatically changed the mood.
The goalkeeper, in for the injured Alisson, miskicked a clearance straight to Joao Felix who fed Llorente, and the substitute was able to score low into the far corner of the net, with a slip preventing Adrian from getting anywhere near it.
Liverpool regrouped but then came the hammer blow when Alvaro Morata, just on the pitch, broke clear and squared for Llorente to finish brilliantly beyond Adrian once more in the stoppage time of the first half of extra-time.
This silenced Anfield as the host now needed to score two in the final 15 minutes to progress to the next round.
Instead, with hope gone, Morata raced through in stoppage time to complete the turnaround on the night as Atletico completed an outrageous 3-2 victory to progress. Anfield, though, still applauded their team off at the final whistle, but this was a crushing defeat.
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