Tag Archives: football
Liverpool are three wins away from the championship (Part 1)
Against Bournemouth 2-1 in the 29th round on March 7, Liverpool were one step closer to winning the Premier League.
Sadio Mane is the hero of Liverpool’s victory. He passed the ball to teammate Mo Salah equalizing 1-1, shortly after the home team conceded. The Senegal striker then scored the goal himself, with a forte acceleration, beating the Bournemouth keeper to set the result 2-1 when the clock just scored 33 minutes.
The ungainly Van Dijk, Salah, Firmino and even Mane made Liverpool unable to score more goals in the remaining time. A 2-1 score means Liverpool have conceded for the first time and scored less than three goals against Bournemouth, after firing 17 goals and keeping clean sheets during the last five encounters. Coach Klopp is also more or less not satisfied, considering the babbling of the home defense.
However, after all, Liverpool can still smile the way the players share the joy with the fans at Anfield after the game. After two consecutive defeats, 0-3 at Watford in the Premier League and 0-2 at Chelsea at the FA Cup, Klopp’s teachers and students have returned to winning.
Not only being a little closer to the first Premier League title in history, defeating Bournemouth is also the spiritual boost needed to give Liverpool more confidence to prepare for the big battle in the Champions League mid-next week. Thursday 12/3, they will host Atletico Madrid with the task of reversing the situation after losing 0-1 away away in the first round of 1/8.
The desire to win after losing three of the last four matches makes Liverpool enter the game as if to eat the opponent alive. After only about five minutes of play, they were in complete control of the situation and at times made up to 9 in 10 Bournemouth players – not counting the goalkeeper – to retreat to the backyard to support.
In the midst of that ebbiness, Liverpool was poured into a cold water right after ninth minute. After a cross by Mane’s cross, the visitors counterattacked quickly. Host midfielder Joe Gomez made a mistake during a dispute with Callum Wilson, allowing him to pass to the right. Bournemouth coordinated another two beats, before Lerma stretched for Wilson to close the ball. VAR intervened, but still recognized the opener for the away team.
Tottenham lost 0-1 in the first round of 1/8 Champions League
He played on home field, Tottenham runner-up lost to Leipzig 0-1 in the first round of 1/8 Champions League on February 19.
The only goal came in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Left-back Ben Davies made a mistake, before illegally stopping Konrad Laimer in the penalty area. Referee Cuneyt Cakir immediately pointed to the 11m mark. VAR team agrees with this decision. In a series of brainstorming matches, Timo Werner finished exactly, bringing the victory for Leipzig right on the pitch of Tottenham.
The goal is a reward for what Leipzig has been offering since the beginning of the match. They entered the game better, having four finishes in the first 10 minutes, in which a ball hit the post after leaving Angelino’s leg. “Rooster” kicks hard, to block the excitement of the visitors but failed. Hugo Lloris constantly worked, and repeatedly denied the efforts of Werner striker – Patrik Schick. However, until the challenge on the 11m mark, the Tottenham captain gave up.
After taking the advantage, Leipzig dropped the squad to low to preserve the gap. They accepted to give the game to the home team and only had two more finishes in the remaining 30 minutes. Jose Mourinho’s army is on the rise, but mostly relying on fixed situations to turn things around. Their best chance came in the 72nd minute, when Giovani Lo Celso took a beautiful free kick from about 25m. Goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi gently touched the ball, sending it to the post.
Lacking both the best strikers, Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, Jose Mourinho arranged a 4-4-2 layout, with the main strikers Dele Alli and Lucas Moura. Last season, Moura excelled in this position, culminating in a hat-trick against Ajax in the semi-final second leg, helping Tottenham win backwards. The intention of the “Special One” is to use fast, direct counter-attacks, when Leipzig accrues, in order to maximize the speed of Moura.
The performance in the first half was exactly as Mourinho predicted. Leipzig, with full of mighty soldiers, actively controlled the ball with three central midfielders. Tottenham avoided confrontation in the middle and always sought to develop the ball to the front lines as quickly as possible.
Losing 0-1, Tottenham has much work to do in the second leg after three weeks. In the last few seasons, the upstream in the Champions League knockout stages, after losing the first leg, is not uncommon. It was the “Rooster” fans who tasted that feeling last season, when Mauricio Pochettino’s teachers and students eliminated Ajax in the semi-finals.
