After the game, Willard's upside-down golden hook became one of the highlights of the week that major TV stations were competing to broadcast. Willard's performance in this game also received praise from many media and fans.
Everyone can see that Liverpool's state in this game is very bad, coupled with the rotation of many players, most of the credit for being able to withdraw from Old Trafford must be attributed to Willard.
Without Willard's goal and his back-and-forth running defense in the backcourt, and blocking Manchester United's tough physical collision, the Red Devils would not have had a chance with a three-goal gap.
Of course, you can also say that it is precisely because of the existence of Velarde that Klopp dares to rotate so confidently and boldly, giving Firmino and other main players a chance to rest.
No matter what, Liverpool finally won and advanced to the quarter-finals. Coutinho, Firmino and other main players also got a rest, so they can go all out in the next league game and continue to give Leicester the lead. City pressure.
On March 19, the 31st round of the Premier League started, Leicester City challenged Crystal Palace away from home. Finally, with Mahrez's goal, they defeated Crystal Palace 1-0 away from home, winning and continuing to lead the standings.
This score made Liverpool, who had not yet started this round of games, feel quite helpless.
Why is it always 1-0, not a tie or a loss? This score is so infuriating.
But at this point, Liverpool can only continue to catch up. They must win this round, otherwise the opponent will widen the points gap.
On March 20, it was cloudy. In the 31st round of the Premier League, more than 30,000 people were seated at St. Mary's Stadium. Liverpool challenged Southampton away.
Southampton is currently ranked 8th in the standings and has a chance to qualify for the Europa League next season. Therefore, in this game, Southampton did not back down because of the popularity of visiting Liverpool, but started a confrontation with the Red Army.
As for Liverpool, there is no retreat. Leicester City's game has ended and they have won. Only by continuing to win can Liverpool continue to catch up with Leicester City.
In the last Europa League game, Liverpool took risks and made rotations just to try their best to win this league.
What was unexpected was that many Southampton players performed well in this game and caused great trouble for Liverpool.
In just the 17th minute, Southampton left winger Mane entered the penalty area. Center defender Lovren flew to tackle Mane. Not only did he fail to tackle the ball, but he tackled Mane in the penalty area.
Not only that, Mane also pressed on Lovren when he fell to the ground, causing Lovren to have a recurrence of his old injury and had to be replaced.
Liverpool were reduced in the first 17 minutes. Kolo Toure had to go straight out without warming up. Lovren did not gain sympathy from the referee. Instead, he was shown a yellow card and another for a tackle foul in the penalty area. Penalty kick.
After Liverpool completed the substitutions, Southampton took the penalty kick. Mane, who took the penalty kick, took it personally and easily scored the ball into Liverpool's goal.
"The penalty went in!"
"Mane took the penalty confidently and easily, volleyed the ball into the goal."
"Although Mignolet judged the right direction, the ball was too fast and the angle was too tricky, so he still failed to save the ball."
"Southampton opened the scoring and led 1-0 at home."
"Liverpool had a bad start. Not only did their opponent score a penalty, but their main centre-back Lovren had a relapse of an old injury and had to be substituted early."
"It's hard to tell whether Kolo Toure, who is older and hastily entered the battle without warming up, can withstand the impact of Mane, Pellet and others!"
Indeed, this game was not only difficult because Lovren had a recurrence of his old injury and was dismissed early, full-back Alberto Moreno was also injured in training, and No. 38 Flanagan was substituted in the starting lineup.
Velarde had to frequently retreat to the penalty area to participate in defense, and he could not contribute much in the offense.
Fortunately, his passing skills are also very good.
After withstanding Southampton's onslaught, Willard finally used a long pass in the 27th minute to penetrate Southampton's defense that was somewhat empty due to excessive pressure, and handed the ball to Sturi. Strange feet.
Sturridge dribbled the ball forward, attracted the attention of Southampton's last two defenders, and then sent the ball to the left corner of the penalty area with a diagonal pass.
Coutinho stepped in at high speed from the side, and before the central defender Van Dijk moved in the middle, he volleyed the ball into the far corner.
Liverpool finally scored the equalizer through a counterattack launched by Willard's long pass from the backcourt.
Then the two sides entered a stalemate. Southampton's center Pellet and winger Mane both performed very well and frequently threatened Liverpool's penalty area or goal. As a result, Willard was pinned near the penalty area by them and unable to advance forward to participate in the attack.
At the same time, Southampton's defender Van Dijk was also in great form. After Coutinho scored a goal from the front, Van Dijk's form exploded. He then destroyed several offensive opportunities for Liverpool, causing Liverpool's offense to frequently end without success.
Until the end of the first half, both sides failed to score again and entered the halftime break with a score of 1-1.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides to fight again in the second half. Center Pellet, who is 194cm tall and weighs 90kg, was too much of a threat. Even with Velarde's physique and jumping ability, he had to go all out to barely withstand the opponent. aerial bombing.
Mane's flexibility also caused chaos in the Liverpool penalty area. Even with the help of Willard, Liverpool could not withstand Southampton's attack.
In the 58th minute of the second half, Southampton right midfielder Steven Davis broke through Emre Can's defense, and then broke through the full-back Flanagan after hitting the wall with midfielder Romeu. intercepted and successfully passed the ball.
The ball was passed quite well, and it landed on the head of center Pellet. Although Velarde tried his best to jump up, participated in the top battle, and thought about interfering with Pellet even if he couldn't grab the header, he still failed.
Pellet grabbed the first point. Although his back was to the goal and he could not directly attack the goal, he cleverly tipped the ball and passed it to the winger Mane who inserted on the left.
Mane rushed into the ribs of the penalty area from the left, stretched out his arms to block the full-back Klein, faced the air ball passed by Pellet, and without stopping the ball, he volleyed directly and successfully scored the ball into Liverpool's goal goal.
"Wow, the ball went in again!"
"It's Mane again, Mane hit a wonderful volley and kicked Pellet's header into the Liverpool goal."
"Mane scored twice to help Southampton regain the 2-1 lead."
"Of course, Pellet also deserves a lot of credit for this goal."
"He had the upper hand in the battle with Velarde, successfully grabbed the first point, and passed the ball to Mane, giving Mane the chance to volley."
"Pellet was in really good shape in this game. Coupled with his height and weight advantages, even with Velarde's strength, he couldn't guard him."
"Willard is still a little short of height."
"Of course, the main reason for this game is that Southampton's players are in very good condition, while Liverpool has a tight schedule and a lot of injured players after all."
"Even those who are not injured are not as good as Southampton who performed well in this game in terms of physical fitness and energy."
"Hence this outcome."
"But fortunately there is still a lot of time in the game, and Liverpool has Willard, Coutinho, Firmino and others."
"For Liverpool, it is not completely impossible to equalize or even reverse the score."
Liverpool will naturally not give up. They still want to compete with Leicester City for the championship. Leicester City has already won this round. If Liverpool loses, the point difference will be widened.
Therefore, after the game restarted, Liverpool increased their offensive intensity, and even Willard ran up front to participate in the attack.
But Southampton's center back Van Dijk was also a monster in this game. His form was explosive, and with the help of other teammates in defense, Liverpool's offense was completely resolved, and even Willard was helpless.
In the 70th minute, Velarde first used his dribbling skills to break through the interceptions of midfielder Romeu and Clasi, then passed the ball to Coutinho who moved in from the wing to meet him, and then bypassed himself. The former central defender Van Dijk went around him, trying to hit the wall with Coutinho and complete the shot in the penalty area.
As a result, Van Dijk's reaction was faster than Velarde expected. As soon as he made the pass, Van Dijk immediately turned around and rushed into the penalty area.
Although the speed of turning and retreating was not as fast as that of Willard's sprint, the distance between the two sides was not long, so Willard was unable to completely open the distance between him and Van Dijk.
As for Coutinho's return pass, he did not expect that Van Dijk would dare to tackle the ball in the penalty area. As a result, before the ball reached Velarde's feet, Van Dijk made a flying tackle in advance and destroyed the ball first. .
Velarde didn't touch the ball at all.
The ball shoveled out by Van Dijk rolled to the front of the goal and was cleared by goalkeeper Fraser Forster. Liverpool's attack ended without any problems. Moreover, Villard personally participated in the attack and failed to complete the final shot.
Klopp's eyes lit up as he watched from the sidelines. In addition to being anxious that his side could not equalize the score, he was also a little moved by the Southampton players.
Whether it is Mane who scored twice, center Pellet who performed well, or Van Dijk, who is like an iron gate and even Velarde has some helplessness, Klopp wants to get it. If these people can be bought, Liverpool's strength will undoubtedly reach another level.
However, for the Liverpool players on the field and the Red Army fans in the stands and in front of the TV, they did not like Mane, Pellet and Van Dijk, and they wished that these three people would be seriously injured and end immediately.
It's a pity that the game did not go as everyone expected. The three Southampton players continued to stay on the court safely, and continued to cause different problems for Liverpool in both offense and defense.
