Liverpool has secured a place in the quarter finals of the Champions League on Wednesday evening. After Jürgen Klopp’s team was already 0-2 too strong in the first game with RB Leipzig, the Reds also in the return to deal with the team of Julian Nagelsmann: 2-0. In the first company in particular, a cartload of opportunities was destroyed, but the efficiency after half time made up for the mistakes. Just like on February 16, the game was also now played in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. At Anfield, Liverpool lost the last six games in a row, but in Hungary they knew the Reds do win their home game.
The meeting could have been completed at Anfield, but in order to avoid a mandatory ten-day quarantine upon return to Germany, Leipzig chose to pay € 1.5 million to Liverpool and complete the game in the Hungarian capital. Georginio Wijnaldum could count on a basic place in Klopp’s team, while Justin Kluivert had to start from the bench. There were no the Reds include Jordan Henderson and Roberto Firmino, whose honors were performed by Nathaniel Phillips and Diogo Jota; Angeliño was absent at Leipzig and Emil Forsberg returned to the starting eleven.
The visitors scored the first chance of the match via Dani Olmo, who was given room to shoot in a promising position but was inaccurate in the completion. The initiative was taken over by Liverpool halfway through the first half, which destroyed several options due to a significant lack of sharpness. That the home team did not score for the tea, Leipzig also owed a great deal to the excellent goalkeeping work of Péter Gulácsi. For example, the final post brought a catlike rescue to a header from Jota, and Gulácsi emerged victorious when he came face to face with Mohamed Salah.
Leipzig crawled out of the shell after more than half an hour of play: first it was Kevin Kampl who was at the end of an accurate pass and fired at Alisson Becker from the edge of the box; Subsequently, Forsberg also contributed in vain with a shot that went just wide of the right post. On the other hand, Jota got into scoring position twice before the half-time signal, but the striker ran into Gulácsi and fired a ball into the side netting. In the opening phase of the second company, Leipzig barely got close to the hostile goal, so trainer Nagelsmann decided to bring in Justin Kluivert after an hour of play for Forsberg, who also could not finish an entire game.
The switch seemed to have the desired effect there die Roten Bullen became more dangerous and came close to the opening goal via a header on the crossbar by Alexander Sörloth. The moment the Germans thought they would gain more control over the game, Liverpool struck mercilessly on the other side. Jota found Salah on the edge of the penalty area, who deftly released himself and hit goal in the short corner: 1-0. This made it an almost impossible task for Leipzig to still win a place in the last eight. Fifteen minutes before the end, all hopes of the away team finally came to an end, when Sadio Mané put the 2-0 final score on the scoreboard from a cross by substitute Divock Origi.