After taking the lead, Klopp, who had been nervous on the sidelines, breathed a sigh of relief. You know, with so many people rotating in this game, he was also under a lot of pressure.
If they fail to win in the end and Leicester City wins and continues to expand their points lead, then Liverpool will basically have no hope.
Fortunately, Firmino did not disappoint and converted this shooting opportunity into a goal.
After the game restarted, Bournemouth's offensive and defensive intensity also increased. After all, this is their home stadium, and there are home fans in the stands who support them. It would be inappropriate to be too decadent at home.
If they can draw or even defeat Liverpool, it will undoubtedly be a very fulfilling thing, although it will have no impact on their overall situation this season.
After all, Liverpool started most of the substitutes. After their opponents strengthened their fighting rhythm, they began to make more mistakes, and there were many mistakes on both offense and defense.
Fortunately, on the defensive end, Willard checked and filled in the gaps, and there were no fatal mistakes. On the offensive end, at most they didn't score a goal, but Liverpool still led the score.
The score of 0-1 remained stalemate until the injury time of the first half. Just when the first half was about to end with this score, Bournemouth's players made a fatal mistake when they stepped back from the back. Under Liverpool's high press, Bournemouth center back Elphick tried to pass the ball to goalkeeper Boruc too lightly.
Sturridge, who was closest, did not hesitate, but followed the ball and chased goalkeeper Boruc the moment Elphick passed the ball.
Originally, he was just going to press in the frontcourt, but he didn't expect that Elphick's ball was passed too lightly. Sturridge saw it and immediately sped up to catch up with his eyes shining.
Goalkeeper Boruc was shocked and immediately abandoned the goal, trying to destroy the ball before Sturridge. As a result, in the speed competition between the two, Sturridge had the upper hand. He touched the ball first when it rolled to the line of the penalty area, volleyed and knocked down Boruc, and then smashed the ball with his falling foot. To the left.
Then, without waiting for Elphick, who was chasing after him, to interfere, Sturridge, who had knocked down Boruc, pushed with his left heel and pushed the ball from behind the fallen Elphick and scored. goal.
At this time, Elphick, who made the mistake, had already chased back. A flying tackle wanted Sturridge to shoot, but he was a step too late and failed to touch the ball. He just brought Sturridge to the ground.
But it was too late, the ball rolled past goalkeeper Boruc and then rolled into the goal without hesitation.
Liverpool took a 2-0 lead in the away game. This score made Liverpool's victory more reliable and could be said to have sealed the victory.
However, because it is still the first half, a 2-0 score does not guarantee that Liverpool will win, so it needs to be treated with caution.
In fact, Liverpool did the same. They stabilized their defense in the following time and did not let Bournemouth, who was eager to score to save face, score a goal, maintaining the 2-0 lead until the end of the first half. .
After a 15-minute intermission, the two sides changed sides to fight again in the second half, possibly due to the reprimand of the head coach. Bournemouth played very resolutely at the beginning of the second half, constantly fighting and attacking in an attempt to break through Liverpool's defense.
But Liverpool's rotation players were united and not only withstood Bournemouth's onslaught, but in the 61st minute, Willard intercepted the ball in the backcourt and sent an exquisite long pass to assist Firmino. Successfully countered offside and scored with a single shot.
Liverpool expanded the score to 3-0 and completely sealed the victory.
Next, Klopp replaced two players in a row, replacing both Velarde and Firmino to rest.
But even so, Bournemouth, who had no desires and desires, still failed to play any decent offense. It wasn't until the injury time when the game was almost over that Bournemouth's center Joshua King scored a header, leveling the score at 1-3 and saving some face.
However, this did not affect Liverpool's win. The Red Army took away a 3-1 victory and 3 points from the away game.
What’s even more surprising is that in another game that started at the same time and ended basically at the same time, Leicester City finally stopped their winning streak and was unexpectedly tied by the Hammers against West Ham United at their home stadium, the King Power Stadium. , only got 1 point this round.
As a result, Liverpool, which has scored all three points, has caught up to 2 points, and is only 3 points behind Leicester City.
In terms of goal difference, because Leicester City often wins by small scores, especially 1-0 small wins, it is not as good as Liverpool in terms of goal difference, and is lagging behind Liverpool by more than ten points. Goal difference.
Therefore, as long as Leicester City loses a game and Liverpool wins, Liverpool can tie the points and rank in front of Leicester City with a higher goal difference.
The actual difference between the two sides is just the distance of one ball.
This undoubtedly boosted Liverpool's spirits and made their hopes of winning the first Premier League championship in team history even greater.
Moreover, after this round, the next game will be six days away, and Klopp can finally give everyone a two-day holiday to give everyone a good rest.
During this period, the media and fans began various arguments and analyzes to analyze who could win the Premier League championship based on the upcoming schedules of Liverpool and Leicester City.
As for third-place Tottenham, although there is still a theoretical possibility of competing for the championship, if the top two and the second team make mistakes and lose most of the games, it is unlikely that Tottenham will win the championship.
Therefore, the emergence of the Premier League champion this season basically depends on Liverpool and Leicester City.
There is no doubt that whoever wins the championship will produce a new Premier League champion.
Leicester City has never even won the top league championship in England. Although Liverpool has won countless top league titles in England before the establishment of the Premier League, they have never been able to win the top league championship since the establishment of the Premier League. The previous Premier League The championship is basically won by Manchester United, and the rest are scattered among Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and so on.
And even in the number of English top league titles, Liverpool has been surpassed by one by Manchester United. Only by winning the Premier League title can Liverpool equal the number of English top league titles overtaken by Manchester United, and even take the lead again now that Ferguson has retired.
Liverpool, with Klopp and Willard, has a bright future. The only regret is that both Klopp and Willard joined midway this season. Liverpool lost too many points in the early stage and is now always in a chasing state, needing to wait for their opponents to make mistakes. If the opponent does not make mistakes and lose points, then Liverpool will not be able to win the championship even if they win completely.
You can only do your best first, and then wait for the judgment of fate.
Six days later, on April 23, the 35th round of the Premier League and the fourth to last round of the league, Liverpool's game started first, facing Newcastle United at home.
This is a tough battle.
Although Newcastle United is weak and in poor form this season, it is currently only ranked second from the bottom in the league. But precisely because of this, Newcastle United, which is deep in the relegation zone but has not yet lost the chance of relegation, will definitely have to fight Liverpool in this game, even at Anfield.
This is completely different from Bournemouth, who had no desires and desires in the last game. It is many times more difficult for Liverpool to win the bottom-ranked Newcastle United at home than to defeat the mid-table Bournemouth away from home.
This game is destined to be a tough battle.
But what is uncomfortable is that Henderson, Emre Can, Origi, etc. have joined the injury list. Liverpool's injuries have increased to 7, and they can only make arrangements based on the existing list. The starter has been chosen.
But football is so dramatic.
Just like the second leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, when everyone thought Liverpool had the advantage, Dortmund scored two goals in ten minutes and almost pushed Liverpool into despair.
In this league, many Liverpool players are injured, and Newcastle United is a team in urgent need of relegation and needs to risk their lives. Everyone thinks that Liverpool will encounter greater difficulties.
But sometimes luck comes and no one can do anything about it.
Only 2 minutes into the game, Newcastle United, who were playing away from home, had not yet entered the game state, and Liverpool played a good team attack.
Mainly because Willard passed two people in the middle, disrupting Newcastle United's central defense, allowing full-back Anita to move to the center to prepare to intercept Willard's pass or pass.
As a result, Velarde decisively separated the sides, and the full-back Alberto Moreno, who stepped in to assist, easily caught the ball and passed down without being defended.
The ball was actually passed normally, but the center back Lascelles misjudged the placement of the ball and failed to head the ball. It actually went over the head, allowing Liverpool center Sturridge behind him to take advantage.
Sturridge, who thought he had no chance, unexpectedly waited for the ball from Lascelles. He lightly jumped on the line of the small penalty area and flicked his head towards the goal, and then headed the ball towards the near corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Darlot rushed from the near corner to the center because of teammate Lascelles' header. Unexpectedly, Sturridge hit another near corner.
The opposite direction of the center of gravity shifted, so goalkeeper Darlot could only make a save, but it was beyond his reach and he was still far away from the ball. He could only watch the ball enter the net.
The commentators were stunned for a moment, and then shouted in surprise:
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball is in!"
"Oh my god, the game only started 2 minutes ago, and Liverpool scored a lightning goal."
"This was a side kick from Velarde after a breakthrough in the middle. Full-back Alberto Moreno stepped in for an assist. There was no one to defend and he easily made a pass."
"Newcastle United's central defender Lascelles made a mistake. He should have been able to easily resolve the ball, but he made a mistake in judging where to hit the ball and missed it."
"Sturridge made a big deal behind Lascelles and scored with an easy header."
"The game has only started 2 minutes, and Liverpool is leading 1-0. This is undoubtedly great news for Liverpool."
"After taking the lead in the score, Liverpool can wait for Newcastle United, who are in desperate need of points to avoid relegation, to take the initiative to attack, and then counterattack."
"Villad is quite strong in terms of his ability to assist with long passes and his speed in advancing forward to participate in the attack."
"This game has just started and it has already entered a rhythm that Liverpool likes."
