At 20:45 on the evening of November 1, the fourth round of the 2017/2018 Champions League group stage match between Liverpool and Maribor started on time at Anfield Stadium.
In view of the weakness of the opponent and the tight schedule, Klopp also performed a certain degree of rotation in this game. Salah, Firmino, Henderson, Van Dijk and other main players were all rested.
Even so, Maribor failed to score even a single goal and continued to be kept clean by Liverpool.
Liverpool, on the other hand, under the leadership of Willard, bombed Maribor indiscriminately. Although the players were rotated and everyone's condition was not as good as in the first leg of the away game, and they created far fewer opportunities than in the first leg, the number of goals scored was still amazing.
Especially Willard, he took four direct free kicks from good angles in the game, all of which hit the goal frame, and only one was saved by the goalkeeper.
Willard became one of the few players after Mihajlovic to complete a hat-trick of free kicks in a single game.
In the end, Liverpool defeated Maribor 6-0 at home, and Willard performed a five-man performance. In addition to three direct free kicks, there was also a long shot and a header.
After playing this game, Velarde's total annual goals in 2017 also reached 135, officially surpassing the 132 goals he created last year and setting a new world record for total annual goals.
Many forwards do not have a total of 135 goals in their career, but Velard did it in one year. The year is not even over yet, which shows that Velarde's terrifying goal efficiency is very high.
Three days later, on November 4, in the 11th round of the Premier League, Liverpool challenged West Ham United away.
Although this was an away game, Liverpool, who had been given a break in the last round, sent out most of their main players. Under the leadership of Willard, they still beat West Ham United 5-0 and won this round of the league.
Willard once again scored four goals, two of which were scored from direct free kicks. Although West Ham United has paid great attention to the location of the foul, stumbling on the court is inevitable, and free kicks are inevitable after all. As a result, Willard seized these two well-positioned direct free kick opportunities and hit both.
In addition to taking free kicks, Velarde's breakthrough and long-range shooting skills have also been greatly improved due to the full value of his skills. As a result, Velarde's goals in the last two games have been as easy as eating and drinking. In the two games, he has scored a total of 9 balls.
It's just a pity that Manchester City is also in quite good form, winning continuously and continuing to lead Liverpool by 1 point in first place. The Red Army can only settle for second place.
However, because of Willard's large number of goals, Liverpool has surpassed Manchester City in terms of goal difference. As long as they can tie the points of both sides, Liverpool can be ranked ahead of Manchester City because of more goal difference.
I have to say, this can be considered an advantage. But the prerequisite is that Liverpool must catch up with Manchester City's points.
But now we can only wait for Manchester City to make mistakes. There is no other way. Liverpool must strive not to fall behind.
After the 11th round of the league, it entered the international football match day again. However, Argentina's World Cup preliminaries have already been played, so there will be no official games this time, but two A-level warm-up matches.
Anyway, Argentina has qualified, so this time the national team has recruited a large number of rookies, and many of the main players have been rested and did not participate in this national team training.
Velarde didn't go either, because he had just won the World Footballer of the Year award, and his agent had helped him pick up several new endorsements, so he took advantage of this break to deal with them.
More than ten days later, the league resumed war.
On November 18, in the 12th round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced Southampton at home.
Mane finally returned from injury and once again formed the most offensive three-forward combination with Firmino and Salah. Coupled with the breakthrough, passing, organization and free kick attack of Villard in the midfield, Liverpool bloodbathed Southampton 7-0 at home. Villard once again staged a good show of five goals in a single game. Three of them were direct free kicks, and he once again staged an amazing free kick hat-trick.
Willard also became the first player in football history to complete two free kick hat-tricks in a single game. Despite his young age, he has been called a free kick master by many fans.
The combination of perfect "shooting" + perfect "technique" makes Willard's free kick really like a penalty kick. He can hit it wherever he wants. It is basically difficult for the goalkeeper to save and can only rely on anticipation. It is judged to make an early move and gamble on luck.
Sometimes, even if you move in advance, you won't be able to pounce because the angle is too tricky.
Three days later, on November 21, in the fifth round of the Champions League group stage, Liverpool challenged Sevilla away from home. Because the points lead with four consecutive wins in the group was too huge and he had already qualified early in the fourth round, Klopp rotated some of the main players in this game.
Sevilla had to compete with Spartak Moscow for second place in the group, so this game was quite a fight and they took advantage of their home court advantage to score two goals against Liverpool.
But even so, they still failed to win Bisong, but lost. Liverpool scored four goals in the away game. Among them, Velarde performed a hat trick, a direct free kick + two arcing long shots from outside the penalty area, leaving Sevilla's goalkeeper helpless.
Liverpool, which had rotated some of its main players, still defeated Sevilla 4-2 away from home and won the fifth round of the Champions League group stage.
After this round, Liverpool ranked first in the group standings with 15 points from five wins, Sevilla ranked second with six points from two wins and three losses, and Spartak Moscow ranked with five points from one win, two draws and two losses. Third, Maribor ranks bottom with two points from two draws and three losses. Second-placed Sevilla can no longer catch up with Liverpool.
Therefore, Liverpool not only qualified early, but also secured first place in the group in advance.
Maribor completely lost the right to qualify, leaving Sevilla and Spartak Moscow competing for third place in the group.
But in the last game, Spartak Moscow challenged Liverpool at Anfield. Even if Liverpool made a substantial rotation, Spartak would probably be in trouble. Sevilla is challenging Maribor away from home, and the second place will most likely go to Sevilla.
On November 25, in the 13th round of the Premier League, Liverpool faced Chelsea at home.
This is a powerful conversation.
However, before the game, sponsor Adidas first awarded Willard the European Golden Boot Award for the 2016/2017 season.
Willard scored 89 goals in the Premier League last season, undoubtedly setting a world record for the most goals in a single season and winning his first European Golden Boot.
The weather in this game was bad, it was raining, and Chelsea played very tenaciously, but Liverpool still defeated Chelsea 3-1 under the leadership of Willard, who had just won the European Golden Boot Award.
Willard scored all three of Liverpool's goals, only one of which came from a direct free kick, as Chelsea have paid considerable attention to fouling Liverpool players in dangerous areas.
But the consequence of that is that Willard's superb dribbling and breakthrough skills often pass several people to get shooting opportunities. One of the other two goals in his hat trick was a shot that passed four people and then entered the penalty area. In the end One is a long arc shot from outside the penalty area.
Even with Courtois's world-class goalkeeping ability, Willard still penetrated the door three times.
In the end, Liverpool defeated the blue team Chelsea 3-1 at home and won the 13th round of the league. Unfortunately, Manchester City continued to advance and made no mistakes. They also won this game again and continued to top the standings with a one-point advantage over Liverpool.
But Liverpool does not have too much frustration, because there will be a direct dialogue between the two sides in the second half of the season. As long as the Red Army can win that game, it will be able to complete the lead. During this period, the most important thing is not to fall behind and not let Manchester City widen the points gap.
