Benfica v Liverpool (A) CL 1/4 Final

[Mr Pink]

I'm absolutely buoyant!

We beat City this Sunday
We overcome Benfica and Villareal get through to the SF of the CL
We beat City in the FA Cup

So far I haven’t mentioned the quadruple to any rival fans, as don’t want to give them ammunition… but reckon if what you said happens, that will be the point when I start talking it up, publicly! Haha

[BigChief]

I'm absolutely buoyant!

We beat City this Sunday
We overcome Benfica and Villareal get through to the SF of the CL
We beat City in the FA Cup

[Buzzo]

We have won 17 out of last 18 games.

Alisson is in teh form of his life.

Virg and Matip have recently picked up player of the month awards and are having a H2H battle to see who will be crowned best CB in the league this year.

Robbo??? If Konate hadn't had a brain fart last night, that would have been something like 13 clean sheets in 15 games with Robbo, with 8 assists this calendar year. Looks cooked, huh?

Trent has similar stats to Robbo and regularly showing he's capable of the absolute sublime.

Fab is peerless in his position on current form.

Thiago, the stats speak for themselves. When he plays, he makes us unbeatable.

Henderson is getting better as the season progresses and Klopp is managing him well.

Jota is the most lethal forward in England currently.

Mane regardless of how he plays, still tends to pop up regularly with goals.

Mo is struggling ATM but he's still the best forward in the world and capable of putting 3 past City.

Our fringe players are also all stepping up and have put in good performances recently, Diaz, Bobby, Naby, Gomez, Tsimikas, Konate and even Gomez.


If you can't find reason for optimism right now, why even bother? No other Liverpool team in history has ever been this close to winning 4 trophies and I'd be surprised if any can match our recent form in all competitions.

[Fosterbloke]

I'm absolutely buoyant!

We beat City this Sunday
We overcome Benfica and Villareal get through to the SF of the CL
We beat City in the FA Cup

[RedReet]

Mane, Salah, Robbo and Trent (understandable, and kind of grew into the game) were all absolutely ****e.

Salah looks like a completely different player now that Egypt have run him into the ground. Needs a rest, but Klopp just refuses to rest the guy. He's knackered!

Mane was his usual self. Absolutely horrendous in possession (there was one early on that was so bad that even I was shocked), then pops up for a goal and as always runs around pressing like a madman.

Robbo continues to start every single game despite having a very capable understudy. He looks cooked already.

A lot of our keys players are looking leggy already and we haven't even hit the main stretch. Not optimistic for these big games coming up seeing the state they're in TBH.

We have won 17 out of last 18 games.

Alisson is in teh form of his life.

Virg and Matip have recently picked up player of the month awards and are having a H2H battle to see who will be crowned best CB in the league this year.

Robbo??? If Konate hadn't had a brain fart last night, that would have been something like 13 clean sheets in 15 games with Robbo, with 8 assists this calendar year. Looks cooked, huh?

Trent has similar stats to Robbo and regularly showing he's capable of the absolute sublime.

Fab is peerless in his position on current form.

Thiago, the stats speak for themselves. When he plays, he makes us unbeatable.

Henderson is getting better as the season progresses and Klopp is managing him well.

Jota is the most lethal forward in England currently.

Mane regardless of how he plays, still tends to pop up regularly with goals.

Mo is struggling ATM but he's still the best forward in the world and capable of putting 3 past City.

Our fringe players are also all stepping up and have put in good performances recently, Diaz, Bobby, Naby, Gomez, Tsimikas, Konate and even Gomez.


If you can't find reason for optimism right now, why even bother? No other Liverpool team in history has ever been this close to winning 4 trophies and I'd be surprised if any can match our recent form in all competitions.

[Exiled_red]

I guess there must be an error by the officials in there somewhere, it’s the referees responsibility to ensure there are the correct number of players, ultimately.

The BBC article said that the 4th official held up the board with the wrong number on, so the player who was supposed to come off didn't know. If that's the case it's on the officials IMO.

[Kenneth]

The rules are quite strict for extra players on the pitch I believe. If it's a fourth ref mix up then there may be some recourse, otherwise 17 seconds is too long for one of the subbed players to not have jogged off the pitch on the other side, if that's where he was.

Usually a win handed to the other side, but an extra game would be fantastic.

I guess there must be an error by the officials in there somewhere, it’s the referees responsibility to ensure there are the correct number of players, ultimately.

[ChesterDave]

Other than differing Governing bodies is it too dissimilar to the Legia Celtic scenario?

Legia 4-1 win in first leg 2-0 up in 86th minute when a suspended player was subbed on and match awarded to Celtic 0-3! That wasn't even an extra player and the terms of suspension was misinterpreted too (not in squad for qualifying rounds but was for tournie so effectively only counted as serving 1 game ban not 3)

[BigChief]

The rules are quite strict for extra players on the pitch I believe. If it's a fourth ref mix up then there may be some recourse, otherwise 17 seconds is too long for one of the subbed players to not have jogged off the pitch on the other side, if that's where he was.

Usually a win handed to the other side, but an extra game would be fantastic.

[Kenneth]

Good luck to them.

[Fierce]

The point is that they get a win that they don't have!

Its stupid and horribly un-sportsmanlike; but if it gets them into the Champions League

[SB]

Did they score the three goals in the 17 second period otherwise I can’t see their point in complaining? Or even score the 2nd goal to give them an advantage?

[Shaggy]

[ame]https://twitter.com/TaintlessRed/status/1511639570017832966[/ame]

[Fierce]

Mane, Salah, Robbo and Trent (understandable, and kind of grew into the game) were all absolutely ****e.

Salah looks like a completely different player now that Egypt have run him into the ground. Needs a rest, but Klopp just refuses to rest the guy. He's knackered!

Mane was his usual self. Absolutely horrendous in possession (there was one early on that was so bad that even I was shocked), then pops up for a goal and as always runs around pressing like a madman.

Robbo continues to start every single game despite having a very capable understudy. He looks cooked already.

A lot of our keys players are looking leggy already and we haven't even hit the main stretch. Not optimistic for these big games coming up seeing the state they're in TBH.

Pastiche ftw

[Doc_Piptorious]

He is no Matip... but he is young and pretty good for 3rd choice.

No he is not on that level yet, then again at the age of 22 neither of Matip or VVD were under the spotlight of playing for a club like Liverpool in the Champions league.

Konate is a bit of a freak with how far along he is for his age, more so when you take imto account the amount of game time he missed through injuries.

Matip was 25 when he joined us. VVD was 26. Will be very interesting to see what level Konate is at when he gets to the same age given he will have cut his teeth at Liverpool FC level by the time he reaches those ages rather than be making the jump to LFC level at 25/26.

Think the guy is going to be an absolute beast by the time he turns 24 or 25.