Liverpool 5-2 Roma: 3 things we learned
Liverpool beat Roma 5-2 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday. Here are three things we learned from the match.
Liverpool battered Roma for 75 minutes in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday, but two late goals gave the Italian side some hope heading into the second leg. Here’s what we learned from the match.
Salah stars, but Liverpool’s front three all deserve credit
Mohamed Salah took his goal tally this season to 43 in all competitions and added two assists, all against his old club. The goals, his ninth and 10th of the tournament, mean the Egyptian now holds Liverpool’s club record for goals in a single European campaign. That’s as good a way as any to grab the spotlight.
As good as Salah was, however, this was another example of how Liverpool’s front three operate as a whole, how their individual skill sets combine to add up to something more than the sum of its parts. Mane’s wonderful touch and run in the 28th minute proved to be the turning point in the match, even if he did miss the target when through on goal.
And while Salah’s opener was a moment of individual brilliance, his second owed much to Roberto Firmino’s hold-up play and skill on the ball. The Brazilian is arguably Liverpool’s most important player given how he sets the tone for their press and the way his movement creates space for Salah and Mane.
Even the third and fourth goals, while primarily the result of poor Roma defending and Salah brilliance, showed off the quality of Mane and Firmino’s movement in the box. Jurgen Klopp has built a truly frightening attack, the most prolific ever in a single Champions League campaign. Salah may be the star, but he has a world-class supporting cast.
Roma’s 3-4-3 was exposed
Roma’s comeback against Barcelona owed much to Eusebio di Francesco’s decision to switch to a back three in the second leg. That may have made sense against a Barca a side who often lack width in attack. Against Liverpool’s front three, however, it was always going to ask a lot of wing-backs Aleksandar Kolarov and Alessandro Florenzi.
Still, the first 25 minute went about as well as Roma could have hoped, with the Reds struggling to play through their press and mostly settling for aimless long balls in the direction of Salah and Mane. Once the home side took the lead, however, the problems with playing with a back three against Liverpool were quickly exposed.
Mane and Firmino’s goals were both a result of Kolarov pushing high to pressure Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back, leaving Salah with far more space than he needed down Roma’s left. Juan Jesus was never going to be able to shut down the Egyption one-on-one, and Salah promptly served up two easy assists for his strike partners.
Roma can take some positives from this match thanks to their late goals, but di Francesco may want to reconsider his formation as he prepares for the second leg. Roma need to attack to get back into the tie. However they line up, that will leave space for Liverpool on the break, but there’s no sense making it easier for Salah than it has to be.
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This tie isn’t over yet, but it’s mighty close
This tie was over at 5-0. Liverpool, after that poor start, were rampant, overrunning Roma in every area of the pitch. They looked faster, stronger, more organized — in a word, better — than their opponents. Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti’s late goals, however, mean there’s still, just about, something to play for in the second leg in Rome.
Roma will of course take heart from their comeback against Barcelona in the quarterfinal, when they overturned a 4-1 deficit to advance. If i giallorossi can score early, as Manchester City did against Liverpool in the last round, they may have a chance. The Reds, as much as they’ve improved, can still struggle to take the sting out of a game when things go against them.
The good news is they have a three-goal lead to defend, and the most dangerous front three in all of Europe. Their experience against City will serve them well, and they’ll know that the more Roma press, the more space there will be for Salah, Firmino and Mane in behind. As anticlimactic as the final 10 minutes were for Reds fans, they should delighted with this result.