Liverpool did very good business in the Champions League on Tuesday evening. The team of manager Jürgen Klopp was on a visit to Atlético Madrid with 2-3 too strong, partly due to two hits from Mohamed Salah. Salah thus became the first player in club history to find the net in nine consecutive games in all competitions. AC Milan went to visit FC Porto with a 1-0 loss and suffered the third defeat of this Champions League season. Stefano Pioli’s team is ingloriously at the bottom of Group B and has to fear wintering.
Atletico Madrid – Liverpool 2-3
Liverpool are on an excellent run and have gone unbeaten in all competitions for 11 games in a row. Jürgen Klopp’s team also started against Atlético Madrid. Salah entered from the right side, passed a number of opponents and shot with some fortune from about twenty meters: 0-1. Not much later, Naby Keïta already doubled the score. With an insane bang, he left Jan Oblak without a chance for the second time after fifteen minutes of play. Atlético did not resign and soon came alongside via Griezmann, who extended Koke’s shot: 1-2.
The same Griezmann put things in order before the break by also signing for the equalizer. The French forward was served by João Félix and slipped the ball past Alisson Becker into the right corner. Griezmann seemed to be claiming a leading role for the first time in a long time, but took a negative leading role in the second half, when his shoe ended up in Roberto Firmino’s neck and was able to hit with red. Atlético then seemed to hold out for a long time with one man less, but had to bend fifteen minutes before the end. Salah signed from the spot for his second of the evening: 2-3.
FC Porto – AC Milan 1-0
To have any chance of wintering in the Champions League, Pioli’s team had to win. However, the first danger was noted by the home side: Luis Díaz’s shot hit the post out of reach of AC Milan goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu. Both sides then went in search of the opening goal. The Milanese mainly sought Diogo Costa’s goal via the left flank and the Dragões were threatening several times through Mehdi Taremi. Still, the scoreboard remained unmoved after 45 minutes of play; a position that would do little for both the number three and four of Group D.
So both sides had to step up and the home team kept trying via Taremi. The Iranian, however, did not have his sights sharp. Milan tried to force a breakthrough with the introduction of three new forces (including Zlatan Ibrahimovic), but in the end it was Porto that made the glasses stand disappear. Díaz, the top scorer in competition, accidentally got the ball at his feet on the edge of the box and opened his Champions League account. The Portuguese then locked things up and Ibrahimovic couldn’t break the defense either.