Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have created one of the deadliest trios in the history of football. After MSN and BBC this is a new fresh breath in European football. They already scored 28 goals in current UCL campaign, more than most teams playing in play-offs.
But are they the only key factor of Liverpool’s success?
After losing Manchester City 0-5 and Tottenham 1-4, Jurgen Klopp criticized his defenders and announced he will learn from these mistakes. Time proves German specialist learned a lot. Liverpool bought Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton to break transfer fee record for defenders. Klopp created a defensive 4 with Alexander-Arnold from the right side, Andrew Robertson from the left side, Lovren and Van Dijk in the center. And it started to work well.
Liverpool, now, is not just a team of attacker. It is the team that knows how to defend when necessary. Klopp send to the bench Joe Gomez, Alberto Moreno and Joel Matip, because they were not reliable enough. After this transformations, Liverpool beat Porto 5-0, played goalless draw against Portugal champions in Anfield, beat Manchester City 3-0 and 2-1 in quarterfinals.
When Mohamed Salah got injured against Manchester City, Liverpool shifted from geggenpressing to defensive style. Manchester City haven't made a single shot to the goal during 90 minutes. Pep Guardiola never had such poor statistics with his teams. In the second leg Liverpool managed to endure the pressure from rivals. No other team had done this during the whole season.
Liverpool play safer in Premier League either, and don’t concede as much, as back then. It seems Jurgen Klopp is finding the key to battle for EPL title. And for now he can take UCL title. He has already beaten Roma 5-2, the only match when Dejan Lovren made a huge mistake after letting Edin Dzeko to score first goal of Italians. 3-goal-advantage against the team, that made the comeback of the season against Barcelona. Jurgen Klopp understands this and is not going to do the same mistakes. He will surely lean on his defense, the defense that learned to be reliable in the most important parts of the season.
Freelance Journalist
Hrayr Ghahriyan
