This 8-0 victory made everything easier for Liverpool. Everyone knows that the Red Army's state and morale have returned. Although there are still 6 players injured, with the existing players and the energetic Willard acting as a free agent, Liverpool can fully cope with it.
After returning to the base and conducting two days of low-intensity recovery training, the entire Liverpool team flew to Germany to prepare for the next game.
Liverpool's next game is the first leg of the Europa League 1/16 finals, an away game against Bundesliga dark horse Augsburg.
In fact, Augsburg is just a dark horse in the Europa League and has made it to the knockout rounds. However, in the Bundesliga competition, it is currently only ranked 14th in the Bundesliga, only 1 point away from the relegation zone, and the relegation situation is in danger.
Augsburg's situation is generally focused on protecting the league. After all, although the Europa League is the Champions League, the prize money for the competition itself is not much, and with Augsburg's strength, it is impossible to reach the end and win the championship.
Since they will be eliminated sooner or later, it is better to concentrate on protecting the league, relegation, and keeping the Bundesliga seat is the most important thing.
However, when it came to the competition, it completely exceeded everyone's expectations.
At 21:00 on the evening of February 18, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2015/2016 Europa League 1/16 finals Augsburg VS Liverpool was played at Augsburg's home stadium WWK Insurance Arena The fight officially begins.
In this game, Augsburg did not give up, but sent out the entire main lineup to fight Liverpool. Moreover, at the beginning of the game, Augsburg actually took the initiative, pressing forward and attacking aggressively. It seemed that they had no respect for Liverpool's 8-0 bloodbath against Aston Villa in their last game.
In fact, it is not that Augsburg does not want to avoid relegation, but the choice of head coach Wei Yinzier. His record in the league is so poor that he is on the verge of relegation and is in danger of being dismissed. Therefore, he wanted to gamble on his results in the Europa League, hoping to defeat Liverpool in the Europa League to gain understanding from the club's top management and avoid dismissal.
Liverpool had just beaten Aston Villa 8-0 in the Premier League, causing a global uproar. If Augsburg under his command can defeat Liverpool, it will prove that he is still capable.
As for whether the team can win the championship, he didn't even think about it. He just took it step by step and fought for every game to avoid getting out of class.
And during the game, the Augsburg players also knew that there was no hope in the league, and success in avoiding relegation was victory. Therefore, if they can perform well in European competitions against giants like Liverpool, if Augsburg is really relegated, they can also use a good performance against the Red Army Liverpool to increase their bargaining chips and find another club.
Liverpool is famous enough and strong enough, which can just set off everyone's strength. Therefore, after the game started, the Augsburg players worked very hard.
In the 7th minute, Willard dribbled the ball past an Augsburg midfielder and was tackled by the opponent's midfielder. It was a rare occasion when he lost the ball.
However, the opponent's shoveling action was very clean and neat, and there was no suspicion of a flagrant foul. Therefore, Velarde was not angry, he just shook his head and continued to play helplessly.
92’s technology is not invincible. If the opponent performs extraordinarily well, there is still a chance that he can intercept the ball at his feet.
Messi will lose the ball when dribbling around 96, let alone Velarde.
In the 14th minute, Augsburg took the ball to attack. Winger Tobias Vienna hit the wall with his teammates and then made a pass from the left and hoisted the ball into the penalty area. Center forward Bobadilla rushed towards the landing point and collided with the Red Army center back Sakho who was fighting for the top.
Neither side fought for the ball, but it didn't matter. Although there was a bump, it was all on the flesh. After rubbing each other, they stood up and continued to participate in the game.
But the unrelenting fight for the top seemed to give Bobadilla more confidence.
In the 22nd minute, Augsburg made a comeback, switching to the right midfielder Eswein, who tore apart the defense through the passing and cutting cooperation of his teammates, then made a pass from the bottom and passed the ball into the penalty area.
This time, the battle for the top became the home team's center Bobadilla and the Red Army's free agent Alan Willard, who returned to the penalty area.
Verard saw that Bobadilla had a relatively high physique, bounce, off-the-ball movement, and aggressiveness. He was afraid that his teammates in the penalty area would not be able to withstand him, so he returned to the penalty area in time to participate in the battle for the top.
In the end, he guessed it right. Bobadilla really ran to the right position, or asked his teammate Eswein to pass the ball to the right spot, which was right near Bobadilla.
While Bobadilla looked up at the direction of the ball, he rushed up quickly, jumped up hard, and prepared to swing his head to attack the goal.
Velarde, on the other hand, rushed over from the other side, also staring at the direction of the ball, jumping up and trying to shake his head to clear the ball.
The two of them only had the ball in their eyes, and neither noticed the other's presence. They both jumped forward without hesitation. Then, the two collided hard in the air.
Of course, the physical collision is actually not very dangerous. After all, the body is more flesh. Just like the time Bobadilla collided with Sako before, it was not a big deal.
But this time it was different. In addition to their bodies colliding together, their heads also collided violently as they competed for the same landing point. Villard's skull was pressing against Bobadilla's eye sockets.
The ball landed on top of Velarde's head and bounced, then was picked directly into the arms of goalkeeper Mignolet. But at this time, no one on either side cared about the ball.
Because both Villard and Bobadilla screamed at the same time, covered their heads and fell to the ground.
The referee rushed forward, separated the players from both sides to avoid conflicts, and then called the doctors of both teams to come in for treatment.
After some inspections and emergency treatment, the Red Army doctors discovered that Willard only had a small bump on his skull, but it was nothing serious, and there were no symptoms such as concussion. After consulting with Velarde, the team doctor allowed him to continue playing.
Bobadilla on the other side was in a more serious condition. Not only was his eye socket broken and bleeding profusely, but he also suffered a slight concussion.
The team doctor had no choice but to simply help Bobadilla stop the bleeding and then signaled to Augsburg that a substitution was necessary.
Augsburg was forced to make substitutions just 23 minutes into the first half. Moreover, the injured one is their main center Bobadilla, who is the single arrow figure in Augsburg's 4231 formation and the bridgehead of their offense.
Now, with such an offensive main force injured, how much offensive power does Augsburg have left? How should Augsburg play with home and away first and the schedule being at a disadvantage?
In contrast, head coach Wei Yinqier will have another headache.
