There has been a lot of talk coming out of the Atletico Madrid camp since their 1-0 first leg win over Liverpool at home, but this is Anfield on a big European night. Trash talking is probably not the best preparation for an away side coming into this type of game.
The absolute key to Liverpool’s amazing record at Anfield on these huge European nights is motivation. It’s also the key to Klopp’s in-game management style. I say in-game style, because there is way more to Klopp than just motivating players, but on a night like this Klopp will be doing everything in his power to fire up both the Anfield crowd and his team. Atletico, with their spoiling tactics and their public statements can only help him!
The news coming out of Spain today is that Atletico will come to Anfield with a plan to attack Liverpool. Don’t buy that for a second, Atleti are a defensive side and defensive sides want to attack in some parts of the game, on the counter for example, but their very nature is to revert to sitting back deep and fighting hard. Expect this Atletico Madrid side to mostly; put huge numbers behind the ball, to battle aggressively, to waste time, and to go down easily taking any opportunity to con the ref. Their main effort here will be to upset the flow of the game. There is zero chance they will want to go toe to toe against this Liverpool side, because the vast majority of the time they’ll get battered. Let’s hope they do.
For Liverpool this is a massive chance to put some poor performances over the past few weeks behind them. Make no mistake Liverpool will be right up for this, Premier League title win or not, this is another massive chance at Champions League glory and this team will be devastated to have to give up their crown. They will be absolutely determined to shut Atletico up and play their way through to another Champions League quarter final, making it 3 in a row.
Liverpool will be Premier League champions 2020, it is not in the remotest doubt. So this game means everything now. Let’s prove that 100% commitment and quality attacking, positive football can overcome talking and defensive, negative and dirty tactics.
Atletico’s chairman might crack jokes about Anfield being fit for purpose, we will see on Wednesday night!
Come on the Reds! #YNWA
